Motivated for Friends -rewritten-
by Kirri Kitty
Summary: Naraku is a despicable demon who must be killed at any and all costs; that's why Kagome is moving to Konoha for three years of training. Only, her father isn't there and instead, she gets to be 'babysat' by Kakashi until she's a trusted shinobi! Kaka/Kag
1. Weak

_Disclaimer: _**-only said once- **I do not own either Inuyasha or Naruto.

A/N: Everyone has the same birthday, but I made all the sensei a little younger. Oh, and Kagome's birthday in this is December 2nd. And she goes to the Feudal Era sometime in February.

**Kagome**- 13 (She's been in the feudal era since her 12th birthday)

**Iruka- **12

**Kakashi**- 15

**Gai**- 16

**Kurenai**- 16

**Asuma**-16

**Anko-** 14

**Rookie nine**- 3-4

**Inuyasha-** 16

**Kikyo- **16

**Sango- **14

**Shippo-** 5

**Miroku-** 17

'Thinking'

"Speaking"

_Flashback_

**Evil**

_**Chapter 1:**_ Weak

'He is such an insensitive jerk!' That's what they all thought.

"_Take care of Kagome for me."_ Those were Inuyasha's last words before he ran off to find Kikyo. He didn't look back. Not to see Kagome's hurt and rejected face.

Kagome growled angrily and stomped to Kirara childishly. The group had been searching for jewel shards when they saw one of Kikyo's Shinidamachu hovering in the air, holding a soul for her to use, and what do you know? Inuyasha gets excited and hurries off to see her!

"Kagome, do you want to follow?" Sango asked curiously. She pitied Kagome at the moment. Inuyasha was so insensitive at times.

"Iie, I want to go home! I don't want to walk into anything or interrupt them!" Kagome huffed, her eyebrows twitched in irritation, "Can I borrow-"

Kagome's widened eyes and shaking hands gave away what she was feeling, Miroku smiled and got his sutras ready, "do you sense a shard, Kagome?"

Kagome nodded her head and turned away from Kirara and looked in the direction she saw Kikyo's Shinidamachu flying to, 'there was only one Shinidamachu, there are usually at least three… Kikyo must be weak and in danger!' Kagome voiced her thoughts, "… I think Kikyo's in danger!"

Kagome mentally thanked her mom that she reminded her to bring her bike, which she rode, while the other three rode on Kirara.

"Do you think it's Naraku?" Sango asked Kagome loudly so she could hear.

"I'm not sure, but I think so!" Kagome replied equally loud. 'Inuyasha, are you alright?'

It wasn't long before they started to feel the thick sickening aura of Naraku's poisonous vapors. Kagome stopped pedaling and quickly pulled out her weapon and with a swish of her spiritual powers, the vapor dissipated. Kikyo was lying on the ground, unconscious with her bow broken in two and Inuyasha was holding her down.

Kagome felt a pang of jealousy in her heart, but tried to ignore it. She pulled out another arrow and shot it in the direction of where she sensed the jewel shards, but Naraku was smart and he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.

What she aimed at was close enough to Inuyasha and Kikyo. The false shard turned black and broke into powder. It was a big portion of gunpowder and it set off a big explosion, luckily Inuyasha's fire rat kimono barely saved the two.

"**Kukuku… You think I haven't learned from one of our first battles, little miko?" **Naraku asked in bitter amusement.

Naraku's tentacles shot out to Kagome, but before they were even near, Miroku and Sango jumped in front of her in defense, "we got it from here Kagome."

Kagome nodded and noted that she only had 4 arrows left, and she'd have to use them wisely. Taking an arrow out to prepare herself, she hid behind a large tree. Then that was when she remembered about Shippo. She searched the whole field for her little fox and saw him and Kirara battling the tentacles together with a combination of their fire powers.

That was when it truly hit her. She let her bow rest at her side sadly. She was the weakest link on the team. Shippo passed her. At least he was fighting, while all she was doing was hiding behind a tree. She felt like the reason female fighters had a bad rep.

She shook her head, now wasn't the time to slack off and think about that. She shot the arrow, and it was dead on the mark of hitting Naraku. But he used his tentacle to protect himself. He was impenetrable.

She decided she was going to change that. Without thinking, she ran from her spot and around the forest unnoticed. She needed a weapon. There happened to be two swords on the ground, not looking to find an owner, she picked them up and ran back to the sight.

"**Kagura, that girl is up to no good, find her and kill her."**

Kagura nodded and pulled the feather from her head and flew to find the girl. It wasn't hard to do, because well, first there was her scent, and two, the girl found _her_.

Kagome pointed the sword at Kagura in an inexperienced manner, trying to act experienced, "Fight me."

"Not much of a fight," Kagura scoffed with her naturally seductive voice, opening her fan and twisting it, "but I can dance with you for a while."

There was a rumbling from underground. Kagome didn't know what was going on, but she kept a tight grip on her new swords, no matter what was going on, she was going to show them all… And herself, that she wasn't useless.

"You know… Before you seek out an enemy," Kagura started, smirking, "remember of their abilities, and look at your surroundings, you have no battle smarts, but I guess that's why you travel in a group."

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "what do you mean?"

Kagura scoffed, "baka, I bring back dead people. Where are we? We're at a graveyard."

Kagome's eyes widened in realization, but before she could even think of what her next step would be, dead people from underground charged at her. Kagome slightly held back at first, not wanting to disrespect the dead. She sliced some, they were hard to miss since there were so many, and they were all bones with literally no skin, so she didn't have to deal with that hassle. Well, some of them.

Kagura smiled thinking she was being soft on the girl, even though the younger girl was already tired, "dance of blades!"

Kagome couldn't even dodge the attack. She wasn't as experienced as the others and couldn't concentrate on defending herself from two sides of her. She cried as two of the three blades hit her, ripping a piece of her sleeve and piercing her arm, and just barely grazing her thigh. Kagome wondered if she'd make it, the undead corpses kept popping back up again even with missing limbs.

It was unbelievably ridiculous.

She knew her friends wouldn't be too happy about her violating the dead, but she also knew that she wasn't strong enough to defend herself _and_ save them. A zombie that she had pushed to the ground with the wrong side of her blade crawled to her foot on the ground and bit the back of her ankle, with a yelp she fell forward and dropped the swords.

"You have to watch your own back, girl, your dog-boy won't always be there to protect you," Kagura advised before smirking, "there's no use in giving you advice now that you're about to die."

Kagura opened her fan wide, and Kagome clenched her eyes shut and looked away. This was it. She was going to die here, a useless 13 year old girl, 'Inuyasha, save me!'

"Kagome, Hiraikotsu!" Sango screamed viciously throwing her boomerang, and with one swoop, more than half of the undead were cut down. Sango jumped off of Kirara and caught her boomerang. "Take care of Kagome."

Kirara picked Kagome up by the back of her collar with her large fangs and flew higher in the sky.

"You think you can hide in the sky, I am the wind!" Kagura seethed cockily ready to swipe her fan when Sango threw a secret weapon at her, it was easily dodged, but it was enough to distract her from hurting Kagome, "Taijiya, it seems you wish to die before your friend here."

"Ha, I'm a demon slayer! It is you who will be the one dying!" Sango replied not hesitating to jump into action, she twirled in the air and threw her boomerang as hard as she could.

Kagura scoffed and with a flick of her fan, the boomerang was sent back to hit its owner, "you useless humans never learn."

Sango smirked, and jumped over the weapon, "In fact they do, wind witch!"

Kagura smirked also, accepting the challenge, she tilted her fan and the boomerang was redirected to hit Sango. This time, Sango couldn't dodge.

"Oh no, Sango," Kagome yelled, this was all her fault, if she didn't have to prove herself… Sango would be fine, "Kirara, let me down!"

Kirara mewled not knowing what to do, Sango ordered her to take care of Kagome. Before the two-tail could even let the girl down, Kagura sent a gust of wind at Sango, and Sango flew back hitting Kirara.

Kirara roared and dropped Kagome.

Kagome suddenly gasped, she had forgotten that she still had her bow and arrows hidden. She ran behind the tree where she placed it, took it out and aimed at Kagura, of course, she missed. She put up a barrier around Kagura, it wasn't a strong one, but it was strong enough to hold off Kagura for a while.

'I have to see Inuyasha!' Kagome thought taking a step back before running. "Kirara, take me to Inuyasha, please." Kirara nodded, letting Kagome climb on her back while she carried Sango.

When they arrived at the battle scene, Inuyasha was bloody all over from Naraku's tentacles, and he was forcing himself to stand. He was holding his sword tightly and awkwardly, as if the sword was too heavy for him to lift.

Kikyo was on one knee, tiredly shooting arrows. She used her hair tie to wrap the bow back together. She aimed for Naraku's heart, but his tentacles blocked all her arrows.

Miroku was leaning against a tree weakly, he had sucked up all of the threatening demons including some of Naraku's poisonous insects, but he was still in the fight, throwing some sutras at the demons that still dared to come.

Kagome jumped off of Kirara in her mid-landing and she focused on aiming her arrow as perfect as possible, before shooting it, hoping that the Gods would be kind enough to let her hit him. The Gods weren't so nice. Naraku had noticed her presence and was aware that she intended to shoot him with an arrow.

Kagome didn't care if he noticed her or not, she shot her last two arrows. Naraku was beginning to get really irritated with her, even though—no, _now that she was_ weaponless, he'd take the chance to kill her. But then he thought of something else, something better. He stared at Kagome with the most evil suspicious look in his eyes and a smirk plastered on his pale face.

'Kagome,' Inuyasha thought, 'I have to protect Kagome!'

But Naraku didn't go after Kagome, while everyone's eyes were on the younger, alive miko, he took the chance to attack the undead miko that his heart continued to yearn for.

"Ah, damn you Naraku!" Kikyo hissed, dropping her bow to grab at her new wound on her shoulder. Everyone's eyes left Kagome and went on Kikyo.

"Kikyo," Inuyasha took a big step forward and let his instincts take over, even with his many deep wounds. He'd used all of his strength to save her, he leapt in the air and thrusted his huge sword, "Die Naraku, Wind Scar!"

He used so much strength in that one attack, his legs gave out on him, and he fell to his knees, panting. He hoped that that was enough to kill the bastard.

"No Inuyasha, you fool!" Miroku and Shippo both yelled, "did you forget that Kanna is there?"

"Nani, "Inuyasha's ear perked, he _had_ forgotten. He saw Kanna appear from her refuge behind Naraku showing her mirror. His attack mirrored and came back at him full force.

Nobody could do anything to save him.

Kikyo was too far away, and her legs wouldn't move, using her other arm, she concentrated some of her spiritual powers into the arrow and shot it, hoping it would be enough to defend Inuyasha.

The malicious Naraku wouldn't take the chance; he used a tentacle to take the arrow, destroying it.

'If Inuyasha dies… There will be no hope… I have to save him! I have to do something!' she remembered using her last arrow, she was about three feet away from Inuyasha, so without thinking, she ran in front of him preparing herself to make a barrier.

_Kagome's father, Ichida, was at the Higurashi house, it was a while after the group had met Kouga, the wolf demon. Ever since Souta was born, and Kagome was 7, he started to visit only once every two years instead of once a year. Kagome's mother told them not to ask why because he was a Shinobi._

"_Kagome, so nice to see you, you look so much different from two years ago, been working out?" was her greeting, along with a tight bear-hug and lift, "how's the Feudal Era that you and your mother have told me so much about?"_

"_Still great," Kagome answered slightly nervous, "I'm going back after my test tomorrow."_

_Ichida sighed, "Have you considered my proposition? Have you, Souta?"_

"_Iie, I'm good, I have a girlfriend that I don't intend on leaving," Souta answered first, his words weren't meant in a bad way, but his father was hurt, thinking that Souta was trying to imply that he was a bad husband and father._

"_Iie, Inuyasha and the others need me!" Kagome said with a proud stellar grin._

"_You say there are demons there, correct?" Ichida asked, "You're strong enough to handle them?"_

_Kagome's smile faltered, "Ano… Iie not exactly, I'm not that bad of a shot if I do say so myself, but my friends usually protect me."_

"_Don't you want to learn how to defend yourself?" Ichida asked, "What if your friends aren't around, or if they are the ones in need of help?"_

_Kagome didn't know what to say, but she replied with her pride, "Inuyasha is very strong and can handle himself, besides, Inuyasha would have a fit if I didn't go back, they __**need**__ me." She didn't really know if she was trying to convince herself or her father._

"_Oh, well, remember this, if you are ever in danger of an attack, such as lighting, fireballs, anything of that sort, put your hands like this," he paused showing her the simple hand shape, " after you do it, I'll guarantee that you will come look for me. Train in Konoha and then find me."_

"_Hai, okay," Kagome turned around and sweat dropped, that hand shape he showed her was just bending his fingers as if he were about to scratch someone, she didn't even know if it was something real or something to build her confidence._

Kagome had no idea why that day, almost three months ago, suddenly came into her thoughts, but she decided to listen to her father. She was still running when she stretched out her arms, with her hands forming into the same shape her father taught her, her hands barely making it in front of the swords demonic power called the wind scar. She kept her hands in place and moved her body closer, she felt something happening, something strange.

The veins in her fingers were pulsing, and she could feel them shaking. She opened an eye, blinded by the wind scar's bright yellow light. She couldn't see anything besides the light, let alone her fingers.

"Kagome!" Sango and Miroku yelled hoarsely, Sango reached out her right arm to Kagome, hot tears started to flow down her cheeks as she saw the wind scar come in contact with Kagome. Miroku closed his eyes and looked away, praying, she didn't deserve this.

Kikyo looked at the ground sullenly, 'what a foolish girl.'

Then before everyone's eyes, they saw the wind scar's blinding light get lower and smaller and Kagome still standing and her arms still outstretched, everyone was shocked as every ounce of the attack dissipated.

Was it possible that her miko powers were this strong? Or was it something else?

Kagome was so confused at what happened, and there was a pulse of pain in her eyes and her vision was… excellent? She felt strong, like nothing could harm her. She looked at her palms that were throbbing with a power, and saw a spark of lightning emit from them.

Naraku himself was confused, if the girl had this kind of power, he'd have to get rid of her now, he signaled his demons to attack Kagome, seeing the fear in her face made him laugh and smirk maliciously.

There were about thirty demons closing in on Kagome with a great speed, and Kagome pushed out her arms in defense. Once again in the same form as before, deep down she hoped that she could absorb them as well, but a wind scar type attack shot out of her palms and killed all of the demons in its path.

When the attack settled, Kagome's arms were still outstretched, and she slowly brought them down and looked at them in amusement, that moment was so… exhilarating to her. Her palms somehow had the wind scar's power. She wondered if the power was permanent or not, because she still felt the presence within her.

Kagura arrived on her feather next to Naraku. She must have just escaped the barrier. She saw what happened just moments ago, and noted that Kagome was standing and fighting while Inuyasha was on the ground half unconscious. How ironic.

Kikyo picked up her bow painfully and used it to push her own body up, "Kagome concentrate on Naraku's demonic aura then use the wind scar on Naraku. That should create the backlash wave."

"But I don't know if I can do it again," Kagome stuttered, but still raised her hands.

Kikyo weakly stood by herself, and gathered enough energy to pull back an arrow with enough spiritual powers. Kikyo and Kagome released their attacks in unison, and everyone gaped awaiting the inevitable death of Naraku.

They were wrong, Naraku teleported himself away from the scene fast enough to get out of there with Kanna and Kagura.

Kagome looked down ashamed, "Gomenasai… I couldn't kill him, again."

Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Kirara all ran to Kagome for support.

"What are you talking about you did great, we'd be dead if it wasn't for you." Sango soothed, and it was true. She crushed Kagome in the tightest hug, 'I'm so glad you're alive!'

"Iie, I don't need this. I know I was too slow, if Inuyasha was okay, they would have attacked faster, and Naraku would be dead now." Kagome said frowning.

"Kagome, what are you talking about? You were great!" Shippo exclaimed, and Miroku and Sango nodded.

Even Sango scoffed, "You don't give yourself enough credit!"

Kagome felt her eyes get teary with joy, but then she looked at the bags under Miroku's eyes and remembered that he was poisoned, she ran to her backpack as fast as she could and took out just what he needed and handed it to him to drink.

"Why are you crying?" Sango asked curiously, "Miroku will be fine, won't you Miroku?"

Miroku nodded but Kagome shook her head, "it's just, you guys are praising me, and I'm usually useless in these situations… I feel so happy."

"What do you mean, Kagome? You're plenty useful, you can sense the shards, you have sacred arrows, and you have cures and remedies from your time." Miroku said after taking the poison cure.

Kagome was actually surprised that Miroku didn't try joking around to get a mouth-to-mouth session with either her or Sango. But she figured that the poison must have been spreading a little too fast for him to joke around and waste time like that.

"Hai, but none of those help me in battle," Kagome sighed, "and I can always run out of arrows." Kagome looked down, covering her teary eyes with her bangs. "And what if…what if there's a time when you need MY help? What am I supposed to do then?"

Nobody said anything.

Kikyo inhaled a deep breath and started to walk away from the site, using her bow to support her body. Even though her miko powers healed her wound big time, it was still rather large and painful.

"Wait," Kagome called, "Ano… Kikyo, can I ask a favor from you?"

Kikyo hesitated, but nodded. Kagome led her through the woods so they could talk in private.

When they were finally alone, Kikyo asked her, "What is this favor you need to ask of me?"

"I know we have our differences, Kikyo, but I know that we have one thing in common, we both like Inuyasha," Kagome started, having Kikyo glare at her, "but can we put that aside, at least for now?"

Kikyo raised her eyebrow, she was expecting Kagome to ask her to lay off Inuyasha or something of the sort, not that she would, after all, it was usually Inuyasha that made his way to her. "Hai, but what are you getting at?"

Kagome nervously traced small circles in the dirt with the tips of her shoes. This was a big favor to ask, especially from your love rival. She didn't know Kikyo all too well, but she figured that Kikyo liked to travel by herself rather than in groups, so this would make the favor even bigger, "I was wondering if you could travel with Inuyasha and the others, at least until I get back from my training."

"Why do you need me to stay? Don't you go home to your own time often anyway?" Kikyo asked. It surprised Kagome that Kikyo was talking this much, especially to her. Even though Kagome new that Kikyo knew about her time-traveling, Kagome couldn't help but flinch. "What training are you talking about?"

"Well that's the thing… I'm staying for a long time. I was hoping for 3 years, to a ninja place called, 'Konoha', it's where my father lives. Hopefully he'll train me to be stronger." Kagome looked over to her friends, "for them."

Kikyo nodded and smiled slightly, her reasons for leaving weren't selfish and Kikyo found herself gaining some respect towards her reincarnation, "hai, I will, three years?"

"Hai, if it's not too much trouble for you…" Kagome started.

"It isn't, in three years from this very day we will meet at the bone-eaters well." Kikyo said turning around starting to walk back to the group.

Kagome grabbed onto Kikyo's hand gently, and pulled Kikyo along, "let's go tell them!"

The whole time Kikyo was being dragged by Kagome, she kept staring at their linked hands. Her hands were so warm that she could feel the warmth spread through her own body. Kagome's innocence reminded her of Kaede, all those years ago.

Inuyasha was already up, weak, but conscious, him being awake would actually make this all the harder.

"You guys, Kikyo and I have come up with a decision," Kagome started, "I'm going to be in my time for a while, and Kikyo's going to take my place until then."

Sango cringed, Kagome wasn't a replaceable object, and Kagome made that a good point, why would she go back on her own words like that? Kagome was actually _allowing_ Kikyo to be in the group? Something wasn't right, "What is this, it makes no sense. You don't like Kikyo, Kagome…"

"I'm putting that all behind me for this group's best interest. I'm not leaving for a week or anything, if I was, I'd just have you guys wait for me," Kagome explained, "the thing is; if Naraku is still alive by the time I get back… In three years… I want to help defeat Naraku and I want to be useful in battle, and I want to be strong for you all."

"Keh, I don't need your help to defeat Naraku, I can do it all on my own!" Inuyasha said crossing his arms with a cocky confidence.

"Just like you did back there?" Shippo pointed out, and smirked when Inuyasha became angry.

Inuyasha grabbed him by his big puffy tail and was about to growl in his face when Kikyo narrowed her eyes and told him to put the little demon down. Surprisingly he was obedient and he didn't even argue with her.

"Three years," Sango repeated Kagome, "That's a long time…"

Sango had lost all her family because of Naraku. Kagome was like Sango's sister. They had a bond that made her _almost_ as close as Kohaku. But this pain of loss for a close relative was a different one. This one was a mildly happy pain. Kagome now had the confidence and will to become stronger.

Sango was proud that surpassing Kikyo was not even a part of the reason. Her reasons were purely unselfish. They were just purely—Kagome.

Kagome stared at Kikyo with a slight jealousy in her eyes. She could order Inuyasha around without telling him to 'sit'. Of course he loved her. She was his age, she was beautiful, she was smart, she was strong, she was the first to look past him being a half breed, hell, Kikyo could probably cook better than her, while all Kagome had to offer was her stubbornness and will to stand up for herself.

And as if Inuyasha hadn't already chosen Kikyo, he'd get to spend yet another three years with her. That would just further convince him that Kikyo was the girl for him. Kagome wouldn't even stand a chance anymore. Oh no, and that would also give the others time to warm up to Kikyo.

Kagome tilted her head sadly and the light from the moon shined over Kagome's porcelain face and that's when Inuyasha noticed, "Kagome, what's up with your eyes?"

"Huh?" Kagome was snapped out of her thoughts, thankfully. She was close to crying.

"They're blue," Inuyasha pointed out, "aren't your eyes brown?"

"My eyes are blue?" Kagome asked, reaching her hand up, but not touching. "I don't know… After I sucked up the wind scar, or something, my eyes started to hurt, but felt really good after."

All of them raised an eyebrow. They didn't know what happened.

"Kagome, they're gorgeous!" Sango gasped, covering her mouth with a hand, "They're like… cerulean blue."

Kagome told them not to worry about it though, and she would ask her father.

They went their separate ways. Kagome rode on her bike, with Kirara on her shoulder towards the well, while the others walked to a nearby village. Sango told Kirara to accompany Kagome back home to make sure she'd be safe, then to come back.

Kagome would miss her friends and everything about them. She surprisingly even missed Miroku's lecherous ways. Well, there were only two things she wouldn't miss, Inuyasha complaining about her cooking, and her constant heartbreaks for being in a love triangle.

'Why do I miss them so much already? I haven't even left yet.' Kagome thought to herself. The weird thing was that she never felt nearly this bad when she left all of the other times before, and leaving for days at a time. It must have been different this time. Because Kikyo was taking her place, or maybe it was because her mind had already registered the length of time she wouldn't see them.

She would be gone three times as long as she'd even known them.

Looking up at the starry sky, Kagome was saddened that she wouldn't see so many stars clustered together like they were in the feudal era. And the feeling of protection, she felt whenever Inuyasha was near.

She didn't understand why she was being so difficult, she _wanted_ to train. It was _her_ idea. Yet she just felt as if she was trapped or forced into going.

She hadn't realized that she'd zoned out. Her leg was hovered over the rim of the well and she was leaning her weight on both arms that were also on the rim of the well. She snapped out of her thoughts from a light nudge from Kirara.

Kagome giggled halfheartedly and pet Kirara behind her ears.

"Ja'ne, Kirara, Arigato." Kagome whispered before jumping into the well with her bike.

_**-**__So tell me what you think, is it better now, or was it better before? I hope you all aren't mad at me for not updating this story for years… Then just starting over… T^T_

_-I LOVE REVIEWS AND THEY INSPIRE ME! =O  
_


	2. Meet Kakashi and Anko

_**Chapter 2:**_ Meet Kakashi and Anko

As soon as the pinkish-purple light dropped Kagome, she fell to her knees and cried. The pain of not seeing her friends—Inuyasha, was too much to bear.

She missed them already, just _thinking_ about the three years absence that they'd have to overcome. She'd decided that it wasn't Kikyo. Kikyo was only helpful, giving Kagome scrolls to study, and giving her arrows from time to time. She even gave Kagome the time with Inuyasha that she could easily take with a snap of her fingers.

Kikyo was a natural born blessing.

But then a thought struck her. Kikyo was stronger, smarter, and more talented than she was. She was what Inuyasha, hell, even Naraku wanted since the very beginning. Would they even_ need_ or _want_ her back?

Having Kikyo there was just giving them a taste of the upgrade. Though they could sense the jewel shards equally, Kikyo had better control over the shards, they could _never_ control her. Kikyo definitely had the better, more mature, personality.

And even being from the future and having advanced 'tools and technology'—band aids and such, Kikyo could heal with her bare hands. But soon Kagome would be able to do that with the scrolls she gave her.

Kagome begged Kikyo to teach her how one day, and Kikyo agreed. Kagome tried hard, but failed. The most she could heal was a simple cut—but she could get better, she _was_ getting better.

A single tear fell from the rim of her eye and left a moist trail down her cheek. 'Maybe I should go back now, before they completely shut me out and forget about me?' She wiped the tearstain away. 'No, get a hold of yourself, Kagome!'

When Kagome finally gathered the energy, she stood up and climbed out of the well and exited the small shrine.

There were two differences between the habitats of the Feudal era and the 'present'. The 'present' era was somehow less calming, whether it was the noises of the cars or the loud chit-chat of the pedestrians, Kagome didn't know, and the Feudal era just had this peaceful quietness and the huge clusters of white beautiful stars entranced her.

And then there was the smell. The Feudal era was… Fresh, that was how Inuyasha had described it. The 'present' was filled with pollution, smoke, and perfumes.

But now, now she would be living in Konoha. Even though it still is the 'present', she had no idea what it would be like there. It was just like going over to a friend's house. The certain friend could be a neighbor, yet the house smells, looks, and _feels_ different. She just hoped that Konoha would be 'fresh'.

Kagome sighed and shook her head of her thoughts, 'I shouldn't be moping like this. The sooner I get ready and start training, the better.'

Even though Kagome heard noises from the kitchen—usually meaning dinner—she ignored them and went upstairs straight for her room. She wasn't hungry, and she wasn't quite ready for explaining herself just yet. She couldn't deal with seeing the disappointment in her mother's eyes. Would she be disappointed? With what her father said, the idea should be legit; but her mother never pushed her, and let her make her own choices in life. But was that because she didn't _want_ Kagome to go and be a so-called kunnoichi of Konohagakure? Before falling down the well, her mother had high hopes of Kagome and Souta becoming doctors. But then again, her mother let her go to Sengoku Jidai, so maybe she'd just be proud of her no matter what?

She didn't know where to start. What should she bring? What was necessary? What would she want? What would she want to take for no reason? If she had much of a choice, she'd take her whole room, just to make it easier. But no, she already planned to take three suitcases, and _only_ three suitcases. Too bad they were all medium-small in size.

In the middle, well, almost the end of her packing, her mother, Kun-Loon, appeared at the door, holding a small basket of laundry. "Oh, Kagome, you're home! What a surprise!"

Kagome walked to her mother and hugged her, "Okaa-san, I missed you."

"I missed you too, dear." Kun-Loon said playing with a lock of Kagome's hair, "Are you staying long? I can make you something to eat if you'd like."

"No thank you, I'm not hungry. I just came because—"Kagome started.

"Oh, you have a test coming up?" Kun-Loon asked, interrupting her daughter. That was when she noticed the suitcases.

"No, that's not why I'm here, either." Kagome admitted.

The innocent assumption had Kagome feeling guilty. She rubbed her arm shamefully feeling like a bad daughter. She _did_ only seem to go home when there was a test coming up or when it was an important day. Never just say hi to the family.

"What are the suitcases for? Are you planning a long trip?" Kun-Loon inquired, almost worried.

"Well… I was planning on going to train with Otou-san." Kagome admitted, playing with her two index fingers. "Is that alright with you?"

Kun-Loon clapped her hands, "That is so great Kagome. Your father will be so happy! How long are you going?"

Kagome inhaled and exhaled her throat and chest feeling tight. "Well… Three years."

Kun-Loon gaped, and took a seat on Kagome's bed. "Three whole years… What about your friends in the feudal era?"

"I took care of that. It's a long story." Kagome answered. "This will be good for me. I know that I'm kind of behind in school, and I don't want to disappoint you, so I'm going to go above and beyond in a different way."

Kun-Loon started to tear up and pulled Kagome down on the bed with her, "You grow up so fast, Kagome."

Kagome smiled and hugged her. "I'll be sure to visit on every important holiday and birthday."

"You better young lady!" She scolded with a smile.

"I bought you a new toothbrush and a new case of toothpaste." Kun-Loon said, wiping her eyes. "I'll go get them and tell Souta and Grandpa the news."

Kagome blinked. Her mother, of all people didn't notice her change of eye color. She stood up and walked into the bathroom to get some dental floss and Listerine. She looked up at the mirror only to gasp at the sight of herself. Her eyes, they were no longer the cerulean blue that her friends had described. They were their original light brown colored eyes.

Kagome shook her head before walking back to her room. She didn't know what was going on. But now that she thought of it, the sensation she felt in her eyes was gone.

Grandpa was the first to enter her room, he was so excited. Kagome's father and Grandpa got along really well. And Grandpa was pleased that Kagome had a chance to go see him. "Make sure to tell him to come over sometime again. Oh, and tell him the cucumbers will be close to harvest for pickles in a few months, you know how he loves the pickles and their stories."

"I will." Kagome giggled, purposely interrupting him at the right time, before he could go on about the story to her—someone who _didn't_ enjoy the stories.

Kagome peeked over at Souta. His face was a little more unreadable.

"Aren't you happy Souta? I won't be around for a long time." Kagome tried to tease.

"No! Of course not," Souta yelled, startling Kagome a little bit. "How could that make me _happy_? I already hardly ever see you. Now what? Only seven times a _year_?"

Kagome placed a hand on Souta's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Souta, you know, if I were to come more than that, you'd get sick of me."

"I guess…" Souta admitted with a pout.

Kagome's aura spiked a little bit, "You little brat, you're supposed to say 'no, that's not true'."

"But it _is_ true." Souta grinned and laughed.

Kagome and Souta smiled at each other before Kun-Loon walked into the room with the cordless phone and a piece of paper. The siblings never even noticed that their mother left the room.

"I think you have to call the Hokage?" Kun-Loon stated, sounding more like a question though, "You know, let them know that you'll be going there."

"Yeah, you're right. They might think I'm an intruder or something." Kagome stated, taking the phone, and the number.

So she got permission to go into the village. She got directions to her house and the village. They just told her to wait for her escorts, who would also present her with her house key, at 4 o'clock the next day.

It was good. At least she would have the rest of the night to be with her family.

The Taxi driver wasn't late, he was just on time. She gave everyone one last hug and a kiss on the cheek before loading her bags into the trunk and she threw a blanket into the back seat. If it was going to be a long drive, she might as well sleep. Especially since she accidentally packed her CD player, she didn't want to be charged for the time it took to go and get it.

"Miss, I have to drop you off here." The taxi driver said, waking her up.

Kagome drowsily opened her eyes, "What, where am I? Wait, what?" It was a nightmare, sleeping in that cab. She wasn't used to driving in a car. Before she could even fall asleep she got major carsickness.

"This is the furthest I can take you." The driver repeated. "It's too dangerous to drive around with shinobi jumping around everywhere."

Kagome growled in the back of her mind, 'If there's going to be danger, at _least_ offer me the shelter of your car, insensitive baka!'

"Sorry I can't take you further, but I can offer you this cart to carry your bags." The driver said pulling out an adjustable cart from the trunk.

"Arigato…" Kagome said slowly, almost angry sounding, putting her things inside the cart. She handed him the money she owed him and a fairly generous tip, "Ja matta."

It was only 3:45.

Kagome sighed, waiting only 10 minutes. "Wait a minute… I'm supposed to wait for escorts… But the taxi didn't take me all the way." She said aloud, "So, I'll just walk straight."

Kagome dragged her cart around with her for 30 minutes. She was tired, hungry, and cold. "Caution: You're now entering the Forest of Death…" Kagome read out loud. 'Well isn't that a catchy name. Certainly would have kept me out.'

Anko's arms were folded across her chest with her fingers tapping on her arm brutally.

"Why are you so mad? She's not even here yet." Kakashi sighed. He was leaning against a tree coolly, twirling his kunai with his index finger.

"We were 47 minutes late!" Anko snapped and tore off a dumpling from its stick with her teeth.

Kakashi didn't say anything, just continued to look bored.

"The whole world… doesn't stop and revolve around you, you know." Anko said in between bites, "Maybe she left, oh no, my first failed mission! Damn you, Kakashi!"

Kakashi scoffed and stopped twirling his weapon, "Nobody is stupid enough to go through these forests."

Just as the sentence was finished, a piecing girly scream was heard in the forests.

Anko was immediately in battle-stance, with a kunai out and her dumplings tucked away. "It seems Higurashi _is_. I'll take the left, you take the right."

Kakashi nodded and they both jumped off to search for the Higurashi child.

Kagome was on the floor, backed up against a tree. This forest was possessed or something, perhaps radioactive. The bugs were gigantic. It was literally raining leeches. And not just ordinary leeches—oh no, they were the size of _dogs_—cows, even.

And just when she thought she was safe of _that_ torture, poisonous snakes slithered from ant holes and nearly attacked her. Again, oversized; these poisonous snakes were enormous, the size of a reticulated python or bigger.

But she never gave up. She stood up and continued on—too bad for her, the forest wouldn't reward her for her persistence. Instead, she set off many booby traps. She got cut by at least three different types of traps. Now she was used to the traps, the way they were arranged, and the way they looked while hidden. Just in case she ran into something worse, she grabbed a kunai from one of the traps.

She didn't care about making noise, in fact, she wanted to be heard and found. She didn't hold back from screaming, especially when a pack of wolves started to chase her. Thankfully, she had strength to hold up a barrier until she had a fair distance in between them.

Then there was this owl, much to her annoyance, a loud owl, it seemed to follow her, hooting down at her, mocking her. It just creeped her out because of one of her crazy grandfather's stories—the representation of the owl—a warning of 'grave danger'. When an owl hoots twice, it means something bad. The owl hooted more than twice, so she didn't know what _that _meant.

The sound of a mocking laughter echoed from behind Kagome, "Hello, little girl."

There were four guys surrounding her. Each of them had a hitai-ate with a music symbol on it, she didn't know what it meant, perhaps a symbol of their gang or band? They all looked at her with dangerous smirks, and had weapons, and that was enough to tell her that they weren't her 'body guards' and they were in fact, dangerous.

The youngest looking one had to have been at least 5 years older than her, definitely no less than that. In a way, they all had their own unique features.

"You lost?" The tallest asked huskily. He was grinning at her, flashing his rotten, gapped, yellow teeth. He had the facial features of a pirate. He had a deep voice that could have voiced a mean fat guy in a Disney cartoon.

Kagome shook her head and took a step back, "L-leave me alone!"

They didn't listen. Instead, they moved in closer to her. One so close that Kagome could smell his repulsive breath. It was so bad, though probably not as bad as a skunk. But, the faint smell of urine that made its way to her nose made that an extremely close match.

"Now what kind of men would we be, if we left a pretty little damsel like you alone in the woods?" The youngest looking one asked as he ran a sharp kunai through a lock of her hair. His voice sounded eerie and sneaky, snakelike and chilling to the spine. He had huge, bulged-out, round dark eyes that made him even creepier.

Kagome tried to make a run for it. She pushed his arm away as well as kicked his ankle. Before she could even take a step, she was yanked back by her collar and tossed on the floor. "Ouch, jerk!"

"What was that?" The shortest sneered. He jerked her up on her feet by her collar and slapped her across the face with a dirty calloused hand.

Kagome whimpered, but stayed strong, "I said… Ouch, jerk!" she repeated herself and brought up her knee to collide hard with his groin.

Again, she was grabbed, "Let go of me!" she yelled slapping him across the face.

"Get her!" The apparent leader yelled. He was the best looking one, but even that wasn't a compliment.

Kagome did what she had to do. She pulled out the kunai she had tucked in her skirt and slashed it around wildly.

The tallest merely laughed at her, "You're pretty tough. I like that."

"Not to mention pretty." The shortest one snickered, eyeing her up and down, "Wearing a lovely little skirt for easy access, aren't you?"

Kagome blushed, 'what is it with these guys?'

While Kagome was distracted, the leader knocked her weapon away from her. She fell backwards, startled.

All four of them snickered and teased her with their weapons, "You're just so pretty, I want to cut you open and see what your insides look like!"

Kagome clamped her eyes shut, waiting for the worst. The worst never came. She peeked through her fingers, only to see a purple haired girl around her age staring down at her. "Higurashi Kagome?"

Kagome nodded slowly. She looked around the area, for the four men. They were all unconscious on the ground. Kagome looked at the girl again. 'Did she do this?' It had to have been. "H-how did you know my name?"

"I'm one of your escorts." Anko explained, "I heard your scream. Nobody, especially civilians, ever comes into these forests."

Kagome bit her bottom lip, "I see why."

"You should have waited where the taxi should have left you." Anko sighed. "Not to mention, you went the wrong way."

Kagome sighed and dropped her head, "Great, just what I needed."

Anko chuckled, "These guys… disgusting."

"Arigato…" Kagome lingered on the word, gesturing for a name.

"Mitarashi Anko," Anko stated.

"So… Anko, how long do you think it will take until we're at the village?" Kagome asked nicely, trying not to sound impatient. Sleep was something she really wanted right about now. Human world or not, this place _had_ to have been more dangerous than the feudal era.

"If we would have left now, about four hours, but my stupid, lazy, _partner_ is still looking for you." Anko sighed.

The tone in her voice was angry, well, more annoyed, and Kagome couldn't help but feel that it was directed towards her. It _was_ after all her fault that she didn't wait where she was supposed to. "Gomen-nassai, I know I should've waited."

"No need to be sorry," Anko sighed, Kagome looked like she was about to cry. And crying was something that Anko had trouble comforting, she never really let herself cry. It was just a Shinobi rule that she followed. "My partner was late, it's completely his fault."

Kagome smiled softly, before she could do or say anything else, a brown paper bag was thrown at her.

"You should eat something, they're dumplings." Anko informed, trying not to regret giving the girl the last of her delicious mouthwatering food. 'What have I done?'

"Thank you, it's really delicious." Kagome complimented after taking a bite. She tried to savor the wonderful taste, but the watchful eyes of Anko made her too uneasy to really _enjoy _it to the fullest.

"We should look for him now." Anko said after gulping. If only she had eaten more before giving it to her.

Kagome smiled and rolled up the bag, "Here, you should have your share."

Anko nearly had tears in her eyes, "Kagome."

Kagome went to her cart that had been knocked down and searched by the bandit ninjas and put everything back inside, "Yes?"

"If you do this with dumplings all the time," She started to grin, "we're going to get along real well!"

Kagome sweat dropped and smiled. 'At least I know how to get on her good side.'

Anko tore off a dumpling from its stick and swallowed it after five chews.

The two started to run to find Kakashi, Kagome kept on running at a steady fast pace, but Anko was running a little slower than her normal pace to not leave Kagome running behind.

"Damn," Anko cursed and stopped when seeing a medium sized hole in a tree, "It'll be faster if you stay here while I search for him."

Kagome nodded and after Anko left, she saw a guy's legs walk past her hole, then backtrack and stop in front of her. 'Did this guy come to? How did he find me?' She let her eyes wander up.

It was another man, this time it was one with gray hair… Yet he looked surprisingly young. Not taking any chances, she plunged her kunai forward and into him. She exhaled shakily, then with a puff of smoke, the man disappeared, "What the hell!"

She jumped out from her hole and searched around.

"Over here." The voice said from behind, startled, she twisted her body and sent him flying with a weak, somewhat sloppy, roundhouse kick. The same thing happened. 'What's going on here? I'm losing my mind!'

"Calm down, are you Higurashi Kagome?" the gray haired man, same one that disappeared twice asked from on top of a tree.

"Yeah… Are you Anko's partner?" Kagome asked, letting her hand with the kunai rest at her side. From personal experience, she made sure she didn't drop the weapon.

Kakashi nodded and jumped down in front of her, "Where is she?"

"She went that way," Kagome said pointing in the direction she saw Anko running to, "To look for you."

"Well, we better wait for her." Kakashi sighed with a bored tone, leaning against the tree.

Kagome twitched at his lack of interest, "You don't think we should go look for her?"

"There would be no point," He insisted, "Besides, she's capable of handling herself."

"Hello! Do you know what's out there?" Kagome exclaimed hotheadedly, he was already on her nerves, she moved her forehead close to his in her anger, "There're giant bugs, poisonous snakes, booby traps, wolves, creepy men, and all kinds of other things!"

"Yes, she'll be fine," Kakashi reassured.

"Jerk," Kagome scoffed.

Kakashi ignored her. He obviously didn't care. No, instead all of his focus was on his kunai he was holding and staring at.

Kagome started playing with her skirt in a bored manner. He just kept staring at the kunai as if it was some great new invention that he just couldn't figure out. But then Kagome thought of something. Maybe he was avoiding her _because_ she called him a jerk? Kagome immediately felt guilty.

But she couldn't tell if her theory was actually correct. She couldn't see his facial expressions. Not with that mask. From the pictures she had seen, seeing her father, and now Anko, Kagome new that it wasn't true that ninjas wore all black and masks and flew in the air, only to be seen in the dark. So why was this boy wearing a mask? Was it appropriate to ask, when she just got through yelling in his face and called him a jerk?

Surely he wasn't _too _offended. At least, he wasn't as much offended as she was curious. "Why do you wear that mask?"

Maybe the question was too personal? She _did_ want some kind of small talk. "How old are you?" This was a question she'd like to know just as must as the former question. He looked young, really young, but his hair proved otherwise. There was Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to prove her wrong, but then they were demons. This guy could just be an extremely handsome young looking old man for all she knew. And if he was old, she wanted to know his secret.

He just continued to stare off at his precious kunai, paying Kagome no heed.

Kagome turned red in embarrassment and forming anger, "Hello, I'm talking to you!" His lack of response didn't surprise her. She turned around childishly and crossed her arms across her chest. "Fine, if you ignore me, I'll ignore you!" Not even five seconds later, she continued her rant, "I won't answer any of your questions or anything!"

"Will you shut up already?" Kakashi sighed in annoyance.

Kagome gasped as her eyes shot open, and then stuck her tongue out at him.

"Kakashi, you idiot, you've been here, with her, all this time and you didn't go look for me!" Anko shouted in her mid-landing.

Kagome kept a note of his name, 'Kakashi, what a nice name, such a shame that it's wasted on a guy like _him_.'

"You found your way, didn't you?" Kakashi asked with his naturally 'smart-ass' tone.

"That's not the point!" Anko glared.

"Anko, are you alright, we were really worried!" Kagome asked interrupting their argument and running up to Anko. Anko was better off than how Kagome was. She managed to come back from the forest with only two cuts on her thigh.

Kakashi snickered and smirked from underneath his mask, "we?"

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows at him. Instead of picking a fight with him, she let her miko powers flow to her arms and began to heal Anko.

"Hey what do you think you're doing?" Anko snapped, pulling her arm back.

"What is that strange light?" Kakashi asked, his eye squinting, "That isn't a medical Jutsu."

The light emitting from Kagome's hands were a pinkish-purple color, while a medical Jutsu was usually green or blue.

"I don't know what a Jutsu is," Kagome informed, "But I am a miko."

"How can you possibly be a miko?" Kakashi asked while glaring at her, "They all died out many decades ago."

"Well, I live in the Higurashi Shrine, and we-." Kagome started, but was so rudely interrupted.

"Did you just say Higurashi Shrine?" Kakashi asked piercingly. He knew her last name, but if she had a shrine, that could only mean _one_ Higurashi.

"Kakashi," Anko snapped, glaring at him almost murderously. She knew who Kagome was from the moment she saw her. Kagome looked so much like the infamous Ichida Higurashi.

Kagome jumped at Anko's harshness, 'what's her problem?' she thought yawning.

"We should set up camp. It's late. The darker it is the more things pop up." Kakashi suggested.

"I can't, I have to be back for training with Ibiki in an hour." Anko explained.

"Well go home. I'm capable of handling Kagome by myself." Kakashi suggested with a lazy yawn.

"Well you need _shifts_ to go to sleep. She's a civilian." Anko warned through her grit teeth. "If the Hokage finds out—"

"Like I said," Kakashi reminded, narrowing his eyes at her, "I am capable."

"You know who you are!" Anko sneered, her teeth showing as she clenched them tightly together in her anger. "Someone might come after _you_ and get _her._"

Kakashi didn't reply, just stood there in his serious aloof way.

Anko growled, "You are an idiot! This mission isn't about seeing how strong you are, it's to make sure that _she_ comes back in one piece!"

Kagome gulped and raised a hand to her face nervously, this Anko person was fierce. 'And here I thought _I_ was the onlyonealways biting people's heads off_._'

"Fine, but if she dies here, it isn't my fault."Anko warned before jumping off. Hokage would probably be upset at her for leaving Kakashi on his own, but with the low rank of the mission, and lack of detail on her part, her mission was probably just to get his lazy ass there on time, or at least on the same day.

After a few minutes of an awkward silence, at least for Kagome it was awkward, Kakashi spoke up.

"Are you hungry, Kagome?" Kakashi asked as if he either didn't care or he was completely out of it.

"Yeah, I'm starving! What do you have!" Kagome asked brightly, her brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Nothing," Kakashi answered, he was leaning against a tree and twirling a kunai around his finger, "I'll go get us something—don't start a fire."

"Why not? It's cold." Kagome asked, holding back a whine and settling for rubbing her arm. It was freezing.

"Because shinobi, like the ones back there, will find you and try to hurt you—or worse." Kakashi answered, narrowing his eyes at the ground. "I'll be back."

But he never came back, not in those tedious, almost horrifying fifteen minutes! Being babied by Inuyasha constantly took its toll on her, when she was alone, she was just… scared.

'Oh great, I just had to think about him.' Kagome cursed herself. Why did everything she do—everything she saw, have to remind her about the glorious half demon of the Feudal Era? And every time she thought of him, the more she just wanted to forget about this stupid idea and go back to him—in his arms. She had to constantly remind herself that the idea wasn't stupid. It was a worthwhile investment.

"I'm back." Kakashi called, snapping Kagome out of her thoughts. She was glad that he announced his arrival before entering the small area, because if he didn't, she'd still be zoned out and blushing like a complete idiot.

But reality hit her. She was in her era now, and she'd be there for a while, three years. And if anyone was in Inuyasha's arms right now, it was Kikyo. That thought struck a nerve and almost made her feel sick, "I'm not hungry anymore, you can have mine."

Kakashi blinked as she lay down on a blanket she had brought. 'She doesn't like fish or something?'

"Wake me up when it's time to go." She said turning around so that her back was facing him.

He cooked both using a fire Jutsu so the light from the flame would be quick. Whether she changed her mind or not, they'd both get eaten. She didn't change her mind, but her back seemed tense. Kakashi stared at her the whole time he was eating, but he didn't care if that was the reason she was tense or not.

'Was it all a dream?' Kagome asked herself, she was conscious, but not awake, and she refused to open her eyes.

And in case it wasn't a dream, she didn't want to know, not yet.

'Am I still with Inuyasha?' She wondered.

Kagome's eyes fluttered open to the sound of the chirping birds. She scanned the area, the boy Kakashi was leaning against a tree. She inaudibly sighed. She didn't know what to feel. This was her choice, after all.

'He sleeps so much like Inuyasha, peaceful looking, yet alert…' Kagome thought, moving to her knees, now that he was asleep, there was something she wanted to do. She wanted to remove the mask. She inched closer and closer to him, trying to make as little noise as possible. She was finally close enough to him, she held in her breath, not even taking the risk of gulping the sudden lump in her throat, and reached out her hand. Her hand was just a centimeter away. She could feel the fabric at the bridge of her fingers.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kakashi asked after hastily grabbing her hand.

"There was a… fly on your mask." Kagome said in between a gulp.

"Right… we should get moving." Kakashi said rolling his eyes as he lightly pushed her hand away.

"Hai," Kagome was still blushing in embarrassment.

She felt like a total complete idiot. A fly on his mask, how lame was she? No, how _old_ was she? Maybe she would have saved herself the embarrassment if she were to just come out and ask like a young adult. She wouldn't ask now, it would be even more humiliating.

"We're here." Kakashi informed her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

_**Author's Notes:**_ Okay so I have an important question for my lovely readers! I'm one of those writers that prefer to write 100% English, but I was told long ago that readers get more into the story when there are some Japanese words in it. So I want to know what you guys prefer… Right now, I write everything in English, and then when I re-read the chapter and edit everything, I change the simple words that everyone knows to Japanese. Like yes, no, bye, priestess… And so on.

And my second note is… Look at my poll in my profile! For Kagome's clothes style whatever. xD But just so you know, if you vote that you only like the clothes she wears when she's 14, then I'll just make her wear what she wears now with white shorts under. Or something like that, I'm all… eyes if you want to make a suggestion there.


	3. Enemy 1: Iruka Umino

_**Chapter 3:**_ Enemy 1: Umino Iruka!

"Please, Hokage!" Rin begged, trying her best to respect his authority, "I need to see that Kakashi is safe!"

"Rin, Kakashi is fine." The Hokage sighed. He was getting annoyed and too was tired to use the soothing voice he'd been using with her since the previous day.

"But you don't _know _that!" Rin shouted in despair, "That selfish girl you sent _left_ him in the forest of _death_! And how can she not get in trouble for abandoning her duty?"

"You know, we're _teammates_! I'd never leave him!" Rin continued, "And what's the point of making a team of three, when you separate us anyway?"

"Rin, he's a Jonin." The Hokage nearly laughed. Dealing with Rin, was like taking on a C, maybe B ranked mission. "And he's had to go into the Forest of Death countless times."

"Yeah, but do you really expect him to be at his best when he has to take care of another person, a civilian, no less?" Rin asked, her eyes trailing to the floor. She knew she was being difficult, but she wanted to know that her teammate slash future husband was okay, and not being seduced by _anyone_.

"Yes, I do, actually." The Hokage murmured. "Don't worry, Kakashi is a strong shinobi."

Rin's lips curved upward, "You're right. He's the strongest."

"You and I both know that he can take on a dozen ninja with his hands tied behind his back," The Hokage complimented.

Rin nodded and murmured, "But he can't keep going on missions and worrying me like this."

The Hokage tried to ignore her. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved with a teenage crush, especially when it was just this big one-sided mess. But knowing Rin and her persistence, he knew he had to change the topic, and fast. He pulled out a stapled file, "Rin, do you remember who Higurashi Ichida was?"

"Of course I do!" She wanted to roll her eyes at him. Did he think she was stupid or something? "He was a village hero! The Higurashi clan had this weird yet very cool power. Well, in the Great Shinobi War, his body was never found and he was presumed dead."

"Good job, Rin." The Hokage complimented while patting and ruffling her hair. That was _exactly_ what he wanted her to 'know'.

"Why do you ask?" Rin asked innocently.

"His daughter," He gestured to the packet, "She's coming to stay in this village for a while, to train. Kakashi and Anko were assigned to bring her here safely."

"A mission **she**_ failed _to do." Rin pressed angrily, this was _perfect_, so Kakashi spent the night with the _girl_. "So, this girl, what's her name? How old is she?"

Rin was hoping that the girl was out of the age limit for Kakashi, either too young, or too old.

"Her name is Kagome Higurashi and she's thirteen," he answered before looking more serious than he already looked, "Rin, I don't think that Kagome knows about her father. But since I'm not even sure myself, don't say anything."

Rin nodded, from what she heard, she couldn't possibly be good friends with her. She sighed, 'Rin, stop being ridiculous. Why do I get jealous all the time?'

The death of her teammate made her feel even more possessive and protective of her other teammate and she just couldn't help it.

The door opened and a guard stepped into the room, "Kakashi and the girl he was sent to retrieve are here," he stepped aside and Kakashi stepped in with Kagome following him.

"Kakashi," Rin shouted happily, grinning like she'd seen him for the first time in a few weeks. Her happiness faded when her gaze left his form and landed on the girl. Her heart skipped a beat. She would hate to admit that she was pretty, so she didn't admit it. 'She's an ugly cow!'

"Kagome, may I speak with you alone?" the Hokage asked, glancing at everyone that was in the room. Everyone took the hint and left the room silently. Rin immediately took the chance to follow Kakashi for some teammate bonding time.

"Ano, what do you want to talk about?" Kagome asked awkwardly, fiddling with her hands.

"About you… And you staying here to train," the Hokage answered politely, "are you planning on becoming a Shinobi of Konoha?"

"Well… No." Kagome answered.

The third raised his eyebrow, "why not?"

"Well I'm not—I don't like killing…" Kagome waved her hands in front of her face, "I just want training, and I only plan to stay for three years."

That was odd to him. Why would someone want to train only to go back to a non-shinobi area where fighting wasn't necessary? It seemed pretty useless. Why not just take self-defense classes or Karate like the other civilians?

"Does 'Tokyo' resource any other ninja village?" He asked puffing his pipe, "Please, for the sake of my village and its people, do not lie to me."

"Well, not that I know of… But my father is from this village, and if there's one thing I'm not, it's a traitor." Kagome answered truthfully.

Nodding, the Hokage closed his eyes and exhaled smoke, the way she spoke about her father was present tense, _meaning _that she didn't know that he was most likely dead—or worse, _meaning_ that she wasn't here to avenge him, "Very well, but your training will be limited."

Gasping, Kagome's eyes widened, "But… you said… on the phone…"

"Hai, I said that I would allow you to train here at your best, **if **you become a shinobi," he pointed out. "At least that's what I meant. I didn't know that you didn't intend on becoming a shinobi. You need a hitai-ate."

"Oh, and how do I get this hitai-ate?" Kagome asked, she didn't even know what it was, or if she could just sew one herself.

The third chuckled, "you must join, and pass the academy."

"What's so funny about that?" Kagome asked raising her eyebrow, almost worried.

Standing up and turning opposite of her, he answered, "some take months, some take years, some just give up and become civilians. There are so many things you must learn, I'm sorry to say, you might not even pass by the time you have to go home."

Kagome stood up hastily causing the chair to screech backwards, "what, no! I really need this training, please!"

"I am sorry, but it's a requirement, both to see how long your loyalty lasts, and so you can learn hand signs, strategies, vital signs, and much more, whatever else you don't know how to do."

Kagome sat back down and looked down sighing, "You say some people have passed in months…"

The third turned to face her, and even though he knew she wasn't looking, he nodded, "correct, but it's very rare."

"I'm going to be one of them." Kagome challenged with a wide grin, gesturing to herself with a femininely open hand.

"I hope you will. The guard will escort you to your residence and around the village. You need to buy some weapons and a weapon pouch for tomorrow." Grinning, he added, "Class starts tomorrow for you, 6 am. Oh, and one more thing…"

Kagome turned her head, her hair flipping over her shoulder as she blinked at him innocently.

"You might want to wear shorts or something under your skirt," He advised, looking away from her deep blush.

As soon as Kagome left the room, the third sighed, "Make me proud, Higurashi."

"Hokage, have you completely lost it?" one of the older council members shouted, "You can't have a girl like that stay in this village without a shinobi observing her every move!"

"**Kagome** is fine. Her father was a great shinobi of this village-"The Hokage started, before the council member interrupted him.

"That's just it!" the particular council member sighed in aggravation, "her father _died_ for this village! We don't know if she's just out for revenge!"

"I interrogated her-"The Hokage started to explain.

"You're not an interrogator Sarutobi!" The council member snapped.

"As I was saying, I interrogated her. She doesn't even know that her father died." He finished.

"Women can be conniving creatures, she could be playing you for the fool you are, Sarutobi."

Rolling his eyes he answered back, "She doesn't seem like the type to do such things, and the look in her eyes is too innocent for such thoughts."

"You also thought there was good in Orochimaru!" he seethed. "Don't be naïve, Sarutobi.

Narrowing his eyes, the Hokage inhaled before agreeing, "I will ask Kakashi if he would like to take up this mission."

Turning around, with his hands linked together behind his back, the council replied, "I thought you'd see things my way."

He scanned files until he found Kakashi's file, needing his phone number. When it was found he dialed the number and waited for him to answer.

"Hello?"

"Kakashi, I have another mission for you, if you're interested. The mission could take months."

"I'm listening…"

The house wasn't exactly what she'd expected. Though she'd been there before, she really didn't remember what it looked like.

She had expected a small, clean on the outside, dirty on the inside kind of house, with a clean garden, no flowers or roses—a manly house.

But the house wasn't small. It wasn't anything huge like the Uchiha or Hyuuga place she passed by, but it was still pretty big, much bigger than her own house. The garden, well, grass, was 'manlier' than she had assumed. No flowers, just weeds, not clean cut, just high yellowish grass.

Kagome walked into the house and dumped her cart to the side, "Otto-san?"

There was no response.

"I wonder where he went off to…" Kagome asked herself out loud, before exploring the house herself.

The house wasn't messy, it was just dusty. Bills needed to get paid, nothing would turn on. Thankfully the house had candles, making the house feel like a house in a horror movie.

The house had three bathrooms, a large kitchen, and four bedrooms, two were master bedrooms.

She was thirsty, so she went to look in the fridge for something to drink. It reeked. Mold was everywhere and the milk was solid, so she didn't even bother looking for an expiration date.

She decided it was best to throw away every last thing in the fridge. Kagome was yanking out a rather large garbage bag to throw away. She opened the door, only to be faced with Kakashi. "Ano, hey, what are you doing here?"

"Just making sure you're not dangerous and stay here, another mission," Kakashi sighed, "Going somewhere?"

"Uh-huh, and they just happened to pick you again." Kagome implied, placing both hands on her hips, "So are you supposed to be my maid or something?"

Kakashi sweat dropped, "Iie, what gave you that idea, baka!"

"Well, if you're supposed to make sure I don't leave this house, are you my errand boy?" Kagome asked, dumping her money and list into his hands. "Here, go buy me everything on this list."

Before Kakashi could protest, Kagome closed the door in his face. He knocked on the door four times slowly, twitching while doing so. He was a respectable shinobi, not an errand boy!

"I know you're not back from the store yet!" Kagome sang happily from inside.

Grumbling, Kakashi put her money and list inside his pocket. If this was how his mission was going to be, he hoped that it would soon end. 'That's not even what my job is… The idiot girl.'

Grinning triumphantly behind the door, she looked through the peek-hole, he was walking away. She still had a lot to do with the house, hopefully to surprise her father, who she guessed was on one of those long missions that lasted months or maybe years. From the looks of the place, he'd been gone a long time. She dusted and organized everything, including the bathroom much to her dislike. Already tired, she decided that she would wait until tomorrow to do the four rooms.

Kagome grabbed a water bottle out of the sad fridge with only few items inside and sat on the couch lazily. She took a sip out of the nozzle when her gaze landed on the clock. Two hours had gone by, and that gray haired boy hadn't returned. Smacking her head at her stupidity, she stood on her feet and ran to the door, about to dramatically yell 'I was mugged'.

She flung open her door and was about to take a step down from her six step stairs but her mugger was sitting on the steps with her grocery bags next to him. "You're here… Haven't you ever heard of knocking!"

Ignoring her, he stood up and walked past her with all four of her bags. "Where should I put them?"

"Just put them on the table over there," Kagome said pointing at the dining room table, "I'll put them away."

Kakashi walked passed her and put all of her bags on the table. Unconsciously observing her whole house, his gaze landed on one picture. "Who's that?"

"Uh," Kagome popped her head up to look at the picture, "I think that's my dad's friend? It could be a relative, I don't know, but the one with the black hair is my dad. Huh, his friend looks a lot like you…"

"Oh, I was asking because the man with your father is my father." Kakashi said, not looking away from the picture.

"What, so our fathers were or are friends?" Kagome asked, almost excited. Maybe when they were younger Kakashi and Kagome met!

"Were, my father died long ago." Kakashi said, now looking away from the picture, "you have class tomorrow, you should get some rest."

"What, but it's only 8:30…" Kagome whined.

"Training will be tough, and you'll need the rest." Kakashi warned walking to the groceries. "But put this stuff away first."

"Right," Kagome nodded. When she was finished putting everything away, she was displeased to find that Kakashi was laying on her couch. "Oi, why are you still here?"

"I'm your temporary guard," Kakashi answered, "I have to make sure you aren't a danger to this village."

"Oh, so you're not my maid?" Kagome teased.

"No," Kakashi flat-toned.

Kagome blushed when he didn't even fake a chuckle at her attempt at humor. 'It was a lame joke anyway', "Oh, well uh, good night."

After dealing with the workout of waking up Kagome, Kakashi started to train in her backyard while Kagome did everything she needed to do.

And now he knows one more thing about her. Kagome is not a morning person, and will remain that way until she takes her morning shower.

"Alright Kagome," Kagome said to herself while putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, "today is going to be a good day."

As she was scrubbing her teeth thoroughly, she was thinking of everything she needed, she had everything. It was her first day so nothing could or should go wrong, right?

Wrong.

Kagome groaned in embarrassment, 'I'm in a classroom filled with kids younger than me! And to top it off, these brats are making fun of me!'

"Kagome, you're serious? You're 13 years old and you don't know what chakra is?" the young girl sitting to her left snickered.

"_And_ you've never held a shuriken?" the even younger boy sitting to her right asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, now will you two be quiet so I can _learn_ what those are!" Kagome hissed.

"Higurashi," the sensei pointed at her, "A new student, disrespecting my classroom! Shame on you, go sit next to… Umino Iruka."

All the kids seemed to go quiet, two, maybe three snickered.

As Kagome took a seat next to the boy the sensei pointed out, she was confused, 'I don't see what the big deal is.'

Just then a gas noise was heard as she plopped into her seat. Kagome jumped out of her seat to see a whoopee cushion on her seat.

As the class went into a wild hysteria of laughter, Kagome blushed and looked down at Iruka only to see the smirk across his face.

Kagome's blush of embarrassment soon turned to one of anger, "hey you, what's the big idea!"

"Kagome, I've had enough of your strong personality, sit down now!" her instructor ordered, grabbing at his red locks of shoulder length hair.

Kagome sighed in defeat and sat down, glaring at the boy around her age while listening.

"Okay, class, go to lunch before the physical half of class begins." The teacher dismissed, walking out of the classroom first.

Eventually all the kids left for lunch and Iruka and Kagome were the only two sitting in the classroom glaring at each other.

"Yeah, I know I'm good looking and all, but you're not, so I'm going to go eat." Iruka said with a smirk.

"Ugh, you jerk!" Kagome roared chasing after him, but he was gone, "he's fast."

Kagome sighed and plopped down against the wall, she thought they'd serve lunch here, but apparently you have to either bring your own or have to live in the village for at least a year before they give you free meals.

Iruka was walking only four yards away from her with a tray of glutinous rice but he paused seeing that she didn't have a lunch. He popped one in his mouth, chewed, and sighed.

"Hey girl," Iruka called, now in front of her, "you should eat, you'll need the energy for the exercises they have us do."

Kagome looked up at him with an unsure gaze. He was offering the food from his tray to her, "no way!"

Iruka sighed and sat beside her, "Oh come on, don't be so stubborn!"

"Why did you have to do that?" Kagome asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

Iruka didn't respond to her question, "Oh well, more for me then."

"You know it wasn't funny," Kagome sighed and took one of the rice balls and eyeing it suspiciously. When she decided it was safe, she took a bite, but didn't chew until inspecting the insides of the rice ball.

When Kagome finished, Iruka pushed his tray in front of her, "Have some more."

Kagome smiled and happily took another one, "By the way, my name is Kagome."

"Iruka," He nodded.

"How old are you, by the way?" Kagome asked, "I'm 13."

Iruka smirked, "Same."

While they ate, Iruka explained to Kagome all of the obstacles they'd have to go through the rest of the day. Just thinking about it made Kagome tired.

"There's one good thing about second half, and that's that sensei Uran and sensei Kenshi join together to train." Iruka grinned as the two walked back to class.

"And why is this so good?" Kagome snorted playfully "Because the class is bigger and harder to notice you pulling pranks?"

"No, because Mizuki is in Uran's class," Iruka explained, rubbing the back of his neck, "Mizuki is like my only friend here."

"Oh…" Kagome said, not knowing how to respond, 'how does he only have one friend? If it wasn't for that earlier prank, I'd already feel so close to him.'

"But before we group up with that class, we always run laps." Iruka said, "Today is Tuesday so we only run 200 laps."

Kagome faked a laugh, "say what?"

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you how much we run." Iruka said holding up his hand to count the days with his fingers, "Monday we run 150, Tuesday we run 200, Wednesday we run 250, Thursday we run 300, and Friday we only run 150."

Kagome's heart seemed to skip a beat and her left eyebrow arched, "and how big are these laps?"

"Oh, just around the school," Iruka said nonchalantly, "but when he's mad, around Konoha. You'll get used to it, don't worry."

Kagome seriously felt like crying right now.

Kagome lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She could see the whole scenario playing over and over again on her wall like a moving projector.

A light knock came from downstairs. But she decided to ignore it.

She knew who it was. She didn't want to see him. She turned over on her side and frowned. "What are you doing on my window?"

"You wouldn't open the door, so I thought you were up to something." Kakashi said smoothly, "I heard about what happened today…"

"You heard about that, huh?" Kagome asked softly.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. After your first week, maybe two, you'll get used to it." Kakashi comforted. It wasn't that he cared, he told himself, he just wanted her to train and get better instead of mope about it.

Kagome sat up on her bed and smiled sadly, "You think so?"

Kakashi nodded and tapped at her window.

"Oh, sorry," Kagome apologized before opening the window for him.

"You know, when I was in the academy, my father trained me when I got home so I graduated when I was 6 years old." Kakashi said, making Kagome smile, "So if you want me to, I can train you, too."

"That would be great!" Kagome said, hugging him tightly.

"If you don't do that again," Kakashi added, ripping her arms away from his torso.

"Oh, sorry," Kagome blushed, 'how embarrassing.'

Kakashi sat on her bed, "Also, I know that sensei Kenshi can be a real pain, but try to endure it. He's been the sensei of some of Konoha's finest ninja."

Kagome's happiness soon faded. "He'll never pass me. He hates me."

"So you think, but he told me and the Hokage that you had good study skills and you retain information really well." Kakashi smiled under his mask, he didn't know exactly why he wanted her to cheer up. He usually didn't care—especially when it came to girls.

Kagome smiled, "Thank you. I really needed that." That, and going shopping for a new outfit, because even though the weather was very similar to her own home, it was windier and she was almost sure that she flashed a couple of her classmates. Why oh why did she have to wear pink underwear?

"Now come on, you should eat now," Kakashi said, walking outside of her room, "Don't worry about cooking anything. I ordered a basket of fruits for us."

'Thank Kami he brought food! I'm so hungry and exhausted, I would have settled for grass!' Kagome smiled and looked around her room, "Uh, thanks, but I didn't see you come in with a basket."

"I just ordered it. They should be here in a few minutes." Kakashi informed looking at the clock by Kagome's bedside, "I'll go down and wait for them."

'Maybe I do stand a chance here after all.' Kagome thought while looking up at the ceiling wistfully.

_**Alright so this is a blah chapter, I can't wait until this story actually gets going! And just so you guys know, I've decided that I'm going to make Rin a nice person after the beginning jealousy… But she won't be like the Rin I portrayed before.**_

_**I'm sad that I didn't get my 10 reviews that I got before, but thank you to the people who did, you're my inspiration to post faster! (I've had this chapter for a while) But, because this is a rewritten story, I owe you guys T^T **_

_**Searece: Ah thank you, you're the only one who answered! xD Okay, so mild Japanese words in my story it is! D**_


	4. Training Begins

_**Chapter 4:**_ Training Begins

Kagome woke up with a jolt, why had the previous day's events still plagued her dreams and thoughts? Was it not enough that she would have to live with this for the rest of her life? That she was now the laughing stock of the class?

Rubbing her temple lightly, images of all her younger classmates laughing and pointing at her spun in her mind like a carousel.

She was waiting around for him, with no sign of him.

Kakashi had promised her that he would train her today, but she wondered if he was suddenly called away on a mission.

Not that she was an expert on how people did things around here, but from what she had seen in movies, they'd train early in the morning. But he hadn't come. And it was already noon.

She had already gotten all of her weapons ready and together. While waiting for him to come, she lay in bed and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

Sighing, she rolled off of her bed and walked clumsily to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of orange juice and took a seat with a banana in hand, 'I might as well eat breakfast.'

Kagome had refused to eat breakfast, not wanting to replay the previous day's events. She was already traumatized as it was. She didn't need someone who she'd be stuck with for a long time to see her vomit.

And even though she wasn't the type to care what people thought about her, she wondered when everyone would forget about what happened, so she could go back and show her face.

"I was waiting for you to eat something," Kakashi sighed, walking in through her window.

Kagome was shocked, but didn't let her surprise show, "you know, some people call that breaking and entering."

Kakashi rolled his eyes as he leaned against the wall, "Well, you ready to go?"

"Well, uh, no," Kagome stuttered, "Ano… You see, I—"

Kakashi gave her an incredulous look, as if she were being difficult. 'Why do girls always have to make excuses?'

"Kagome, part one of your training is to get over that fear," Kakashi said folding his arms. "If you can't get over that fear, then you'll never become a good Shinobi—or a good anything."

"You're right," Kagome said with a light sigh. She gulped and finished her food, not breaking eye contact with him. She threw her trash away and let him guide her.

They finally stopped at a very beautiful, clean surrounding. Kagome almost didn't want to train at the spot, fearing she would make a mess out of it. There was a waterfall and a beautiful crystal stream that sparkled surrounded by the healthiest looking grass she had ever seen.

"So, how do we start this?" Kagome asked, feeling lazy and just wanting to plop down on the grass that looked as soft and inviting as the clouds. "Do I attack you, do you attack me?"

"Well yes, eventually, but always remember to do your warm ups!" Kakashi said enthusiastically.

Kagome blinked, "Warm ups as in…?"

"**Double** what you do in school," Kakashi said, smiling under his mask.

"Excuse me, double?" Kagome fumed, turning two shades of red, "I barely survived!"

"Well, just think of how advanced you'll be." Kakashi tried, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "You will soon catch up and surpass all of your classmates in a short amount of time."

"You're right," Kagome sighed, "What's first?"

"Do 800 sit-ups, 700 push-ups and then 300 squat thrusts." Kakashi replied simply, as if it was nothing. As if he just asked her to do five of each.

"B-but… we don't even have to…" Kagome whined, with horrified eyes.

Kakashi smirked, and narrowed his eyes at her.

Kagome gaped before positioning herself on the soft grass, 'Crazy stupid gray haired tart!'

An image of Naraku flashed in her mind's eye and a look of determination spread throughout her face. She_ would _do this, and she would do it good. The only thing that kept her going was imaging her friends and thinking of everything they'd been through.

"Oh, and I suggest listening to music or something. It gets boring." Kakashi said as he reached into his backpack and pulled out HER CD player and CD case.

Kagome grumbled a 'thanks' as she put on her headphones and proceeded to pull herself up and fall down over and over and over again.

"Lord Hokage, May I request Hatake Kakashi for a personal mission of escorting my daughter to the tea village today?" Bowing, a wealthy man of Konoha asked. "She asked if I could personally request him."

"Gomen-nassai, but Hatake Kakashi will not be available for requests in missions for the week." The Hokage apologized, sucking in the smoke from his pipe. Many of the village girls always requested, either first-hand or second-hand, Hatake Kakashi.

"Oh, my apologies," the wealthy man bowed once more, picturing the look of disappointment on his daughter's face. "I will take my leave now."

Standing up and looking at a scroll with his shinobi on various missions, he stared at Kakashi's name pointing to his mission—Kagome's name.

With the death of Obito and his father taking their toll on Kakashi, he hasn't shown any positive emotion, but he tries to be more like Obito, letting teamwork mean more; though he was still the same, stoic antisocial copy-ninja.

But now, he smirks, he's sarcastic, and he's doing more than asked in his mission—and he doesn't even think of it as a mission, but _free time_.

_Filing out some paperwork, the Hokage was interrupted by the sound of his door opening. Without looking up, and before the person could even enter the room, he asked, "Is there anything I can do for you Kakashi?"_

"_Hokage," Kakashi bowed his head in greeting. "May I have the week off of any missions other than watching over Kagome?"_

"_May I ask why?" The Hokage asked arching an eyebrow. _

"_I would like to train Higurashi Kagome." Kakashi answered, surprising his lord._

"_**You**__ want to train someone… Let alone someone you wanted nothing to do with?" The Hokage asked._

"_I guess you could say that." Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his head, his eyes showing the smile that his mask hid._

_Yet another surprise; was he finally healing?_

"_Hai, I will count these days as missions." The Hokage offered._

"_Arigato," Kakashi waved as he left the office._

Almost two-thirds into her push-ups, she finally collapsed; her stomach and arms feeling as limp as a rag. No, not even _limp_, they felt tight like that rag was twisting into a small ball, "I can't… do… anymore!"

"Shinobi don't quit. Don't stop." Kakashi said, "Keep going."

Shaking her head, she begrudgingly continued.

Even though Kakashi appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, he had an eye cracked open, watching her.

'She's already improved since she's been here… Strange considering she comes from a non-ninja village that doesn't train or workout constantly… Her muscles and flexibility are that of a late genin, early chuunin build.' His eyebrow arched in thought, 'Could she possibly be an undercover shinobi?'

'Come on Kagome, just 30 more!' she scolded herself.

'No, she couldn't be,' Kakashi decided, 'Uncontrollable events such as her not being able to meet the warm ups of academy level would be foolish of them. She doesn't look the part of a spy-ninja or anything of the sort.'

"Ha, done!" Kagome cried in joy and pain.

"Take a 10 minute break then go on with your last set of warm ups." Kakashi said, rolling over to his side.

Yawning, Kagome turned over and closed her eyes.

"No sleeping or I'll make you do the sit-ups and push-ups all over again." Kakashi warned lightly.

Glaring into the darkness of the grass, Kagome moaned, "Alright, alright…"

Once he called the time, she began to do the painful squat thrusts.

"Well Kagome, your time isn't impressive, but with time, you'll be up to speed with everyone else." Kakashi complimented, if that's what you could call it.

"Oh Kami," Kagome cried, letting herself collapse to the ground.

"You didn't finish," Kakashi said with a boring tone, "Do you _want_ to start all over?"

"No, but I can't take it anymore," Kagome croaked, "I'm going to _die_."

Sighing, Kakashi stood up and went to his bag and rummaged through it pulling of a can that said in Kanji writing 'Ninja Energy Drink'. "Drink this, and be prepared… Energy drinks for ninjas are _nothing_ like they are from where you come from— these are much stronger and, depending on the drinker, can be much more dangerous."

"I see," Kagome frowned, "And why didn't you give this to me before?"

"I needed to see how much stamina you have," Kakashi said simply. "Which is very good, considering where you come from-"

Before Kagome could even smile and thank him, he continued.

"But for here, your stamina is low," Kakashi tossed the drink at her, "But no worries, within a few weeks it will just grow and grow."

Kagome sipped the drink a couple of times and in no time felt as if she could do everything that she had done over again, "This stuff is amazing!"

"Now hurry and finish your warm-ups. Even though I know how much you can normally handle, you still need to build your muscles." Kakashi said, and watched her until she finished, "Run now."

Sighing in agony, she stretched her legs, "How many laps?"

"No laps, you run until I say so," Kakashi said, ignoring her unladylike fish looking gaping face.

"Alright then," Kagome said her annoyance showed in her voice. 'Hopefully he's like a P.E teacher and only makes me run for 10 minutes.

But he wasn't.

Between drinking gulps of water and sips of the energy drink, Kagome just ran and ran, until the sun set and the moon rose. Boy was she going to be in pain tomorrow.

The point of giving Kagome the energy drink was so that she could have the energy to tone her muscles and in doing so, giving her more stamina. But, as he had said, the drink could be harmful, so he had to hide the can from her once the can was already more than half empty. Besides, he had to save it for the _training_.

"Done," Kakashi said.

'Finally, it's been hours, you dumbass grey haired fool!' Kagome thought, though her blank stare didn't show her thoughts or feelings of immense rage.

"Now are you ready for the training?" Kakashi asked with a smirk.

Gulping down some more water, Kagome nodded and grabbed the weapons that he was gesturing to her.

"Yeah right, you trained with Kakashi?" Iruka asked with a tone that finalized his disbelief. "But he's a loner. Why would he want—no, why would he _let_ you train with him? He doesn't even bother with Rin, and she's his _teammate_."

"Maybe he sees potential in me," Kagome grinned like a fox, but pouted when he only lifted an eyebrow at her. "Fine, well he probably felt bored just having to watch over me like a babysitter."

"I guess," Iruka sighed, furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm more surprised in how fast you've caught up in training with him over the weekend."

"Yeah," Kagome sighed taking a sip from her fruit punch. "All weekend I was bathing, eating, sleeping, training with Kakashi or studying… I had no time for myself."

"Hm, that sucks. You should just take it easy. I mean it'll be a long time before we become genin." Iruka said before eating a soy sauce dipped shrimp dumpling.

"What do you mean, aren't we taking the test in four months?" Kagome asked, popping a small rice ball and piece of chicken into her mouth.

"Yeah, but come on, you've only been here for a few days and I'm just a talentless bum," Iruka sighed, putting his bento down as he sulked. "We won't pass."

Kagome's anger flared and her miko powers surged through her body, "Iruka," he looked up at her, shocked, "You are not a talentless bum. I don't ever want to hear you say that again, understand!"

Iruka gulped and nodded.

"Besides," Kagome smiled, her eyes closed now, "Anyone who could get a Jonin like Kenshi to fall for three pranks in one day couldn't possibly be talentless."

Iruka laughed with a light blush plastered on his lightly tanned face as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Just because we aren't prodigies or were born into a big and well respected clan doesn't mean that we aren't as special!" Kagome said, her voice rising as she went, "We can be special! I can be the new girl who passed in a record time! And you, you can be the class clown who turned his life around!"

Iruka's eyes blazed with a new found confidence that she had stirred, "you're right!"

"So today, after lunch, we will train to our limits," Kagome grinned, "We'll show them all what we can do!"

"Well," Iruka sighed lazily, "Not today, I want to have all the fun I can have; tomorrow, for sure."

"Kid," Kagome moaned scratching her head in an irritated manor, "You're ruining the moment!"

He laughed heartily before a comfortable silence passed over them.

"By the way," Iruka said in an unsure wavered voice, "Um, your new outfit looks good on you."

Kagome blinked, looking down at her new clothes then back up at Iruka. He was looking away from her and had an annoyed scowl while blushing. Kagome grinned, "Why, arigato Iruka!"

Over a fishnet long-sleeved shirt and fishnets on each thigh, Kagome wore a black silk-cotton kimono that reached just above her knees with dark pinkish purple outlines and a matching obi. There was a flap that went down just a little past her loose-fitting kimono with black shorts under that. Along with that, she wore tall black lacey leggings that tied at the top. Finally, she wore the regulatory black shinobi sandals.

After running the tedious laps of the day, everyone was shocked, some, slightly disappointed that not only did she not puke, faint, or trip over her own feet, but she looked decent—sweating like a pig, but not on the ground on the verge of passing out.

Iruka grinned, "Great, you made it through the laps. Now you can meet my friend!"

Before Kagome could respond, she was hauled away.

"Hey, Mizuki," Iruka hollered, when he was next to him, he lifted the numb and still slightly disoriented Kagome by her wrist, "This is Kagome."

Mizuki turned away from his conversation with a sigh and looked at the girl; smirking, he shoved his closed fists into his pockets trying to act cool, "Hey, what's up? I'm Mizuki."

Once Kagome regained her composure, she held out a hand, "Hi, I'm Kagome."

Before he could remove his hand from his pocket completely, he narrowed his eyes on her face, "Hey wait a minute," he smirked, "Aren't you Puke-Girl?"

Kagome sweat dropped, "Um, what?"

"Yeah," His friendly smirk turned darker, "Aren't you that girl that was tripping everywhere, then puked and fainted?"

"Uh…" Kagome stuttered, suddenly turning tomato red.

"Yeah, that was her!" Iruka grinned wrapping an arm loosely around her shoulder.

"Funny, you're nothing like I pictured you to look like," Mizuki smirked flirtatiously.

Iruka frowned and released Kagome, now uncomfortable with the situation.

"Yeah," Kagome dismissed, uncomfortable as well, "so are we supposed to train or stand around like bakas?"

Mizuki smirked, "Are you sure you're up for it, _girly_."

Kagome frowned. 'What is up with this dumbass? First he tries to act cool, then he makes fun of me, then he flirts with me, then he degrades me!'

Iruka glared at his male friend, "Mizuki!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kagome warned, inserting her own deadly glare. Her miko powers spiked when he just chuckled at her glare. "Was that an insult to girls?"

"It might have been," Mizuki challenged with a smirk.

Kagome's eye twitched involuntarily as she clenched her fists tightly. "Take it back." She warned slowly.

"Only if you prove me wrong," Mizuki grinned, sending chills up her spine.

"Alright," Kagome smirked, "I accept your challenge."

"Uh ho," Sensei Uran yelled, excitedly, "It seems that two of our students have challenged each other!"

Kagome's glare disappeared and was replaced with a blush when she realized that both the classes combined attention was on both her and Mizuki.

"So, Kagome, as you are a new student," Kenshi spoke up, his eyes closed with his balled hands under his chin, "I will explain how these challenges work."

Kagome stood up straight and listened for the explanation.

"First, the actual duels are exactly one week from the challenge. Second, you don't actually fight each other; you each go through the same obstacle course, a race." He paused to let the first two rules sink in, "And finally, only academy jutsus and academy weapons are allowed."

Kagome let out a puffed sigh, so she wouldn't get the chance to kick the arrogant prick's ass.

"So everyone," Uran announced, "Resume your training!"

Kagome turned to Iruka with a scowl on her face, "What the hell is the point of waiting a whole week? By then, I won't even be mad!" Iruka shrugged, "I think it's so that the anger and pressure combined will influence the challengers to train."

Kagome mouthed an 'o'.

Seeing that Mizuki had moved to another group of boys, Kagome looked up at Iruka. "Sorry for driving him away."

She didn't understand how Mizuki could be his best friend, let alone his _only_ friend. Mizuki just seemed like an arrogant, pompous, rude jerk. Iruka was nice, funny, laid back, and caring. And if Kagome didn't know any better, this friendship they had seemed one-sided.

"Oh, it's okay," Iruka shrugged, though he felt slightly betrayed, "He was the one being a jerk."

"So I guess only you and I will be training?" Kagome beamed, and when he nodded his approval, she jumped backwards and pulled out a kunai with the speed of lightning. Iruka and all the other witnesses couldn't help but gasp. The silence was broken out when a chuckle was brought to everyone's ears.

"I see Kakashi's been training you," Kenshi smiled, reminiscing about his former academy student.

Most of the girls gasped, some swooned at the mention of his name. Most of the thoughts were similar to: He's so dreamy. He's so cool. It's a lie! Why would he be training with that loser?

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Kagome blinked.

More than half of her classmates gaped and gasped when the sensei's assumptions were confirmed. She had to have been lying.

"Why, he was one of my students." Kenshi smiled, "Though he was incredible and graduated at such a young age, he was a stubborn one. He would do some things his own way, not the academy's way. And that stance is an example."

"Wow," Kagome smiled looking at her feet. 'So Kakashi really was all that great.'

"Show me what else he's taught you." Kenshi asked nicely, though it sounded more like an order. He was very amused at what his student could accomplish.

Kagome nodded and whispered, "Iruka, ready to show them all what you've got?"

Iruka nodded, "I won't go easy."

Kagome smirked, "Perfect, neither will I."

Iruka wasted no time in pulling out a kunai, but waited for her to make her first move, "Ladies first."

Kagome nodded and ran forward into him, extending her weaponless hand into his gut, only for him to block it. Then he pushed his knee up, intending for it to collide with her jaw, and it did. But it wasn't her. It was a clone.

"Impressive," Sensei Kenshi nodded, 'she hid her hand signs very well.'

A curt whistle snapped Iruka out of his startled state, and he looked up to the source of the noise, only to be pushed to the ground by her index and middle finger.

Rolling up to his feet, Iruka charged at her with his kunai and Kagome leapt in the air over his head. She felt like Inuyasha, jumping as high and as free as he did. Snapping out of her comforting thoughts, she landed and finally used her kunai to trap him to the ground.

"One," Kagome challenged.

Once Iruka got up, he hotheadedly charged at her once more only to be tumbled over by a roundhouse kick to the chest.

"Two," She said, wonder was in her voice… This fight was ending up a lot like her fight with Kakashi, except she wasn't as gentle as Kakashi and when she was fighting Kakashi, she didn't have a kunai, or any weapon, like Iruka did.

'I have one more chance!' Iruka thought, taking out a kunai and a thin rope.

Using the rope, he tied a knot around the hole of the kunai and began spinning it above his head.

'Reminds me of Kohaku,' Kagome smiled inwardly at the thought.

He threw the kunai, which she easily dodged. And he did that a couple more times until he heard a girl in the back of the crowd giggle. 'I won't take this!' He stepped it up and made his range with Kagome more difficult for her.

Spotting a long enough rock, she jumped to it and lifted it to block the kunai, which made a few sparks with the friction. Then she took out her own kunai and decided to go heads on with him.

Their kunai clanged together and they broke apart only to clash against each other once again. Their eyes locked in a fierce show of dominance. Both their arms shook from trying to overpower the other.

"Wow look at Iruka go! I've never seen this serious side to him before!" One of their classmates announced the excitement in his voice showing.

"I know, and Kagome, too. She's a lot better than when she first came here." Another one said, impressed.

'I wonder what they are doing…' Both sensei thought… 'There have been many openings for Kagome to end this and a few for Iruka… Are they trying to prolong the battle?'

The sensei looked at each other with a smile, confirming that they were thinking the same thing. 'Kagome must be testing her endurance while Iruka is trying to show everyone how capable and strong he can be.'

Iruka jumped in the air and performed a series of hand jutsus, before Kagome could fully comprehend what Jutsu he was doing; four more of him came at her.

Surprising everyone who witnessed, Kagome used her spiritual powers to make the fake ones disappear. And hooking her foot into his stomach, she swiftly kicked his body over hers and into the ground.

"Three," She breathed, her chest heaving in exhaustion. Sango had once told her that this feeling was the best feeling in the world, but right now, Kagome just felt pain in muscles she didn't know existed and she wanted to rip out her own heart that painfully thumped so hard within her chest.

"What… Was that?" A student asked, stunned.

"That was awesome!" Another shouted, so excited that he was shaking.

"That was quite the fight," Sensei Uran agreed. He was wondering what that strange power was. It was different from her chakra, and it was really pure.

Iruka and Kagome looked at each other and smiled.

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you're all awesome! =) Review again please? **_

_**By the way, so based on the polls it's official that Kagome's older clothes is the red one posted on my profile, and by the looks of it (this poll is still on) she's going to be wearing the younger one, too, so go on, don't be shy! ^-^**_


	5. Goddess of Genjutsu

Chapter 5: Goddess of Genjutsu

Walking home was a pleasant change from being carried home unconscious. Her back and calves may have been burning with the fire of the seven hells, but at least she was conscious. Now she could see the different places that led up to the Higurashi estate. Konoha truly was a pretty place. And leaning coolly against her door, was none other than Hatake Kakashi.

He looked really cool. And once you got used to that weird, gray, gravity-defying hairstyle of his, it began to look quite… cute and it suited him.

Smiling, Kagome sped up towards him, ready to tell him of her fantastic day that was all thanks to him.

"So next week you're going to have a battle against Mizuki?" Kakashi asked, though it was more of a confirmation of what he already knew.

'But of course, he already knows,' Kagome sighed, but nodded.

"You do know that he's on a different league, don't you?" Kakashi asked.

Kagome's mouth twitched into a frown, "What do you mean? You don't think I could win?"

"No, he is fairly skilled with genjutsu, and you're not very good at it." Kakashi said, painfully truthful with her.

'A little white lie or compliment every now and then wouldn't hurt, you know!' Kagome glared at him, deciding to brush off her hurt pride, "Which I have no idea how you know…"

Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Seriously," Kagome said, "Are there like spies or something?"

"No," He sighed, "The Hokage just sends me the reports your sensei writes up so I can observe your progress."

'Like spying,' Kagome thought, pouting and looking away.

"So in other words," Kakashi tried, "It's like a daily 'progress report', as Tokyo puts it."

"Well can you help me?" Kagome smiled.

"Well I would, but I'm not the best with _teaching_ genjutsu…" Kakashi said, "I suggest going to the "Goddess of Genjutsu" as they call her."

"Who is that supposed to be?" Kagome asked. She didn't know what to make of that 'goddess' part, but that made her visibly flinch.

"Kurenai Yuhi, purple house next to the Korean BBQ restaurant." Kakashi informed, pointing a hand in the air for no apparent reason and with no direction "And I still have to write some reports."

"You haven't written a single one since I've arrived, haven't you?" Kagome accused, her eyes squinting with her eyebrow raised.

"If that's what you want to call it…" Kakashi said, raising a hand again and waving her off.

Kagome shook her head. If she really were a rogue, she would have been glad to have Kakashi be her little guard. Her mission would have been an easy one.

Before heading out the fence again, Kagome turned her head towards him and glared at him. "This time don't eat _all_ of my food."

'Watch, now I will just to piss you off,' Kakashi thought while looking at her innocently, "Yeah yeah, just go."

Kagome huffed, turning on her heel. How dare he kick her out of her own house… rude.

The house was quiet… Too quiet for Kakashi to concentrate, "Who am I kidding; I won't get anything done today."

'This is it,' Kagome thought, looking at the only purple house around the Korean BBQ restaurant. And there was a girl sitting Indian-style on her porch, meditating.

"Excuse me," Kagome called, not wanting to intrude on her property without permission.

Opening her crimson eyes, she asked, "May I help you?"

Kagome blinked upon seeing her strange eye color, but quickly recovered, "I heard that you were very good with genjutsu."

Red eyes… Was that the Sharingan? But the Sharingan was supposed to be in the Uchiha clan… And wasn't there supposed to be only one left? And he was like 3 years old or something.

Kurenai looked past Kagome, as if she sensed something.

Kagome turned around and looked in the direction Kurenai did, and didn't see anything. But she felt a presence, she tried to focus.

"Yes, and?" Kurenai asked with a bored and slightly annoyed tone.

"Well, ano…" Kagome laughed, forgetting about the presence, "I was wondering if you could help me train?"

"I suppose I can," Kurenai sighed. "Sit down and meditate with me. I need to observe your chakra flow."

Kagome did as she was told and just closed your eyes. Maybe someone in the Uchiha clan had an affair and had an illegitimate child with someone in the Yuhi clan.

Kurenai raised her eyebrows, "What was your name?"

"Kagome," she answered, opening her eyes.

"Right, well just relax," Kurenai ordered, and not even a minute later, she interrupted her again. "You're wasting chakra letting your mind wander. Just be blank."

Kagome nodded and tried again. This time the results impressed Kurenai.

"Alright, that's enough meditation for now," Kurenai said. When Kagome opened her eyes, Kurenai was already standing up. "Practice meditating when you can. Concentration is the key to being good with Genjutsu."

Kagome nodded.

"I'm going to teach you a few small tricks for today." Kurenai said, "I have to meet my team for a lame mission in two hours."

"A mission, how cool." Kagome gasped in awe.

"Not really, I'm only a genin so we're given D, C, and on one occasion they gave us a B-ranked mission." Kurenai said in a bored tone, she remembered back when she got all psyched about missions, no matter how lowly they were. "I want to be a chuunin but my sensei doesn't think we're ready."

"Don't worry, you'll have your day," Kagome said, giving Kurenai a warm smile.

Kurenai's face remained stoic, "Thank you."

"So, do you know how to cast or dispel genjutsu?" Kurenai asked, thinking that the answer would be yes to both.

"Nope, can't do a single thing in genjutsu." Kagome admitted.

"I see, so we have a lot of work to do, so let's get started." Kurenai said. "By the end of the day, I'll teach you how to dispel genjutsu, show you how to sense a genjutsu, how to cast a genjutsu, and I'll try to get some techniques in."

After an hour and a half of training with Kurenai, it was safe to say that Kagome had learned plenty. But sadly, she wouldn't even be nominated for the place of 'Princess' of Genjutsu, if there were such a thing.

"Didn't you say that you had to meet your team?" Kagome said, reminding Kurenai.

"Right," Kurenai said, "Come again in about three hours. I want to take you somewhere. It'll do you good if you're really serious in your training."

Kagome smiled, "Alright."

As they both left Kurenai's property, Kurenai running and Kagome walking, a rustling in the trees barely caught Kagome's attention. She looked up and saw Kakashi watching her out in the open. "You really need to be more aware of your surroundings, Kagome."

"Hai," Kagome laughed it off, "What… Are you doing here?"

"My job of course," Kakashi answered rolling his eyes. "I have to watch you when you're not in the academy, remember?"

In truth, he had forgotten about that until _after_ he decided to follow her.

'Yeah, like right, you just wanted to watch your little Goddess,' Kagome nodded with a small smile, despite her thoughts, "I just didn't know you followed me."

"It sounds like Kurenai is going to take you to Shinobi Hill." Kakashi said, changing the subject.

"What's that?" Kagome asked curiously, running with Kakashi to her house.

"It's a training place where only serious shinobi train," Kakashi answered. "Academy students and genin are usually never asked to join. And you have to be asked by a "member", if you'd like to call it that to be there."

"So it's like a club?" Kagome asked. "And I'm in it?"

Kakashi nodded, "You're not a member yet though. You have to prove yourself to two other members."

"Are you serious, why?" Kagome sighed, "It's just for training…"

"Well, if they didn't then people would just continue inviting their friends and just talk and distract everyone," Kakashi said, "It destroys the whole concept of the place."

"Well I don't get why they have to make a sorority of it," Kagome pressed, "Friends motivate and encourage you to do better."

"They also distract you." Kakashi said with a monotone voice. "Make you weak… and soft."

"Yeah, sometimes," Kagome admitted, "But they help you more."

"Friends are distractions," Kakashi sighed, "It's the other way around. Even without meaning to, they distract more than encourage. They won't always be there for you."

"Gosh, you're such an antagonistic pessimist!" Kagome yelled in irritation, wishing that he was Inuyasha so she could just sit his ass. She felt her heart skip a beat when Inuyasha's name filled her thoughts, but she was able to push it out of her mind.

"And you're such a child." Kakashi said back.

"Well what about rivalry?" Kagome asked, trying to prove her point. "Your rival, A.K.A your _friend_, pushes you to do better by constantly trying to beat you… And you can't let that happen, so you get stronger."

"Or they are just distracting you from your original goal, trying to complete your mission," Kakashi said, smirking at her glare.

"Why are you always like this?" Kagome yelled, "It's as if you have PMS or something! Or split personality!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Kakashi sighed.

Kagome sweat dropped. Really, what _was_ up with this guy? "Sometimes you're nice to me, but when the subject of _friends_ comes up all of a sudden you're mister dark and mean! It's as if you don't have any friends!"

Kakashi glared at her before turning around.

Kagome looked down and sighed, 'Okay, so maybe I took that a little far…'

'I better go apologize,' Kagome decided right away. Following his chakra, she found him standing in front of a tombstone. "Is this your dad?"

Kakashi didn't look at her, "No."

Reading the stone, she saw many names, but didn't bother reading any of them.

"These are the names of the village heroes," Kakashi said, "My father… My teammate…"

"Was your teammate your best friend?" Kagome asked with a sullen smile.

"I guess you can call him that." Kakashi replied, no emotion in his voice or on his face. "Closest person to a friend I've ever had."

"Listen, when I said—"Kagome said, trying to apologize, but he cut her off.

"I was always so mean to him, looked down to him… He helped me see that my father was a hero. Right when I was beginning to think he was an okay guy, he died." Kakashi said surprised by the heavy burden that he's been carrying around.

Kagome looked down with a sad frown, suddenly feeling like the worst person in the world.

Kakashi pat the stone then took a step back. "I wish I could have told my father that I was proud of him… and tell Obito that he wasn't useless and he deserved to be treated a hell of a lot better than we treated him."

"Too late now though," turning around with a sigh, he shoved his hands in his pockets, "Well, we should go back to your place."

"Wait, follow me," Kagome said grabbing his hand and pulling him, he didn't see the sullen smile that was on her face.

Finally, when Kagome stopped, he looked around and had no idea why she wanted to take him here, "What are we doing here?"

"Right here," Kagome chirped and pointed to a sign with her free hand.

Kakashi didn't pay attention to what she was pointing at. He just stared at their still linked hands with a frown, not knowing what to do. Should he pull away, let go, or just let her?

They entered the shop and he was distracted from their hands and realized that they were at a flower shop. 'What the hell are we doing here?'

Kagome finally let go of his hand and went up to the cashier, "Hello, can we have a bouquet

"Yeah sure," A blonde male said, reluctantly putting down his 3-year-old on the counter, "Any special meaning?"

"Wow, she's so adorable!" Kagome squealed, looking at the little blonde girl with admiration, "Aw, and adorable blue eyes! She's going to be a heartbreaker!"

Inoichi looked down at his daughter with a proud smile, "Yup, her name is Ino."

Kagome sweat dropped, "Pretty name."

Inoichi looked at Kagome then to Kakashi, a little confused, "So do you want to make a love bouquet exchange or something?"

Kagome blushed, "No, no, okay so I want admiration, hope, regret, friendship, acceptance and love in one bouquet.

Kakashi blinked, she wanted him to buy flowers for dead people? What was the point? "Kagome, what are you doing?"

She ignored him, and when Inoichi came back with the bouquet, she shoved it in Kakashi's hands, "how much?"

"1640 yen," Inoichi answered and she paid. "Thank you, come again."

Kagome quickly paid then took Kakashi's hand and pulled him out of the store? "Thanks and bye! Bye Ino!"

Kagome took him back to the tomb and gestured for him to put the bouquet down.

'Do I owe her now, what does she want in exchange?' Kakashi looked at her suspiciously, but still put the bouquet down. "What's this all about?"

Kagome was different from other girls, sure. But any girl would try doing something like this to get him to fall for them, right? Or bribe him into dating them.

Kagome's smile slightly faded, "These flowers have meanings, and you can communicate with them rather than just visit them. You wanted to tell Obito and your father all of these things that flowers can. You might think it's stupid to be buying flowers for someone who isn't alive, but you know what I believe? I believe that even though they aren't physically here with us, their spirits are looking over us and they're here." she said, placing a fist over her heart.

Kakashi frowned. 'I got her all wrong— she's just a kind-hearted person. I just thought she was like all the other girls…'

"You're helping them move on, Kakashi." Kagome smiled and looked him in the eyes, "And then eventually you can forgive yourself and move on."

Kakashi let out a breath then smiled and awkwardly patted her shoulder, "Thank you."

Kagome grinned and hugged him for a while, successfully shocking him, "we should go back soon, say your goodbyes."

Kakashi pulled away from her, awkwardly yet somehow at the same time reluctant, and bowed to the stone, she followed his example. Kagome was finished praying first, but she didn't want to disturb him, so she just waited patiently.

When he finally finished, he stood up and a soft breeze blew past them making their hair float in the air, "They're talking back to you."

Kakashi chuckled, "I never thought of death like this—through your perspective, but it's… Nice."

Kagome's smile suddenly faded and a look of horror covered her face, "oh no, I'm going to be late for Kurenai!"

Kakashi blinked.

"Gotta run, see you at the house!" Kagome yelled, running in little dramatic circles, "Or in her tree, whatever!"

Kakashi looked at the tomb, "So, what do you guys think? Will she make a good shinobi?"

A second breeze gave him his answer, "So do I. Well, I have to go to Kurenai's tree, ja."

"And I made it!" Kagome said, relieved after looking at her watch.

"You made it," Kurenai smiled.

"Yep, so where are we going?" Kagome smiled.

"I was wondering," Kurenai bit her lip, "Can I take you tomorrow? I'm a little tired."

"Yeah, sure," Kagome smiled.

"Do you want to go out to eat or something?" Kurenai asked, "You can even bring your friend up in the tree."

Kagome blinked and turned to the tree, sure enough he was there. "How about it Kakashi, want to go?"

"Yeah, sure," Kakashi said after jumping down from the tree.

"Ichiraku ramen okay for you guys?" Kurenai asked. Her eyes were slightly wider in surprise. It was _the_ Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan eye. She'd seen him around a lot but she'd never talked to him or was assigned any missions with him.

Kakashi shrugged and looked at Kagome. Ramen and Korean BBQ were seriously over suggested around here. 'Just who is paying?'

"I've heard a lot of good things about that place." Kagome said.

They walked with Kagome in the middle and Kurenai took notice of how close Kakashi was letting himself walk next to Kagome. Sure they weren't touching hands or anything, in fact there was an inch or two between them, but Kakashi usually walked a foot away from a person—At least, from what she'd seen and heard.

"Is that Iruka?" Kagome asked herself, now sure and smiling, "Iruka!"

Said boy turned from his ramen noodles and waved back at Kagome before gaping at the people she was standing next to.

Kagome looked at Iruka's bowl, "Ah, so you just got your order, good."

Iruka's face remained wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"So yeah, Iruka, meet Kurenai and Kakashi," Kagome said, "You guys meet Iruka."

"H-hi," Iruka stuttered shaking their hands, "I'm a big fan."

"Can I take your orders?" The ramen stand owner asked.

"Beef soup, thanks" Kagome said, 'Kami, no more noodles for a long time.'

"Pork ramen, please," Kurenai said.

"Miso soup with vegetables," Kakashi said.

Kagome sat down next to Iruka and Kakashi sat next to Kagome. Wanting to see Kakashi's expressions for some reason, Kurenai sat next to Iruka.

"So, Iruka, going to this ramen place and not inviting me; how rude." Kagome said, starting a topic to break the ice.

"Sorry Kagome," Iruka smiled, faking a sigh, "It's just that I'd like to eat without having to get sick by looking at your face."

Kurenai flinched and frowned, even though she heard the playfulness in the kid's voice. Did he not know a thing about women?

Kagome scowled, "Jerk."

"So, how did you two meet?" Kurenai asked, paying close attention to Kakashi with her peripheral vision.

"I'd be glad to tell you," Kagome growled, ripping her chopsticks apart, "I was the new student and he was a big jerk!"

Kakashi slightly smirked and crossed his arms.

'Looking a little smug there, Kakashi,' Kurenai thought, smirking, "Oh really, and now you're friends?"

Kagome blushed, "Mm, well, after being a jerk and putting something on my seat, he shared his lunch with me."

Kakashi's head tilted to the side a little bit, his eyes showing a little annoyance.

Kurenai smirked at this, 'I never thought that the serious Kakashi could get so jealous.'

"And he told me a lot about the school…" Kagome finished.

Iruka was rubbing the back of his head, blushing, "Yeah, and Kagome was a disaster on her first day, when we had to run, she—"

Kagome nearly pushed him off of his chair covering his mouth, her cheeks were flushed an even brighter red, "Shh."

"Hey, what the hell, Kagome," Iruka yelled playfully, poking her side making her jolt upwards.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head at the two, feeling more annoyed than he would usually be, and he didn't know why. He absentmindedly looked passed the two and saw Kurenai staring directly at him, "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Kurenai said coolly, shocked that she was discovered, "I was just going to ask you how you and Kagome met."

Kagome and Iruka both stopped their little playful war.

"I was just assigned the mission of escorting a Tokyo civilian to Konoha," Kakashi sighed, "And then I was assigned the mission of watching over her to make sure she wouldn't be a threat."

Kurenai blinked, "You make it sound so boring… Mind retelling us, Kagome?"

"Right," Kagome nodded, pulling her hands off of Iruka, "Well, after realizing how weak and useless I really was on the battlefield, I decided that I would go to see my father since he's a great shinobi and all and he's been wanting to train me."

"Have you seen him yet?" Kurenai cut in.

"No, actually," Kagome sighed. "After Kakashi and Anko picked me up from the Valley of Death—"

"You had to go to the Valley of Death?" Kurenai asked, wide-eyed.

"Mm, I kind of just went the wrong way," Kagome sweat dropped, "Well anyway, when I got home, the house was like neat, but very dusty and there was a milk carton that was literally all solid."

"Maybe he went on a really long mission?" Kurenai offered with a frown.

'Does anyone let you finish a story around here?' Kagome's mind cried.

Kakashi's eyes suddenly turned dark, unnoticed by the three surrounding him. Hokage had requested that he not talk about her father with Kagome, unless he absolutely had to or it wasn't anything serious.

"I guess," Kagome sighed, "Well, anyway, back to our story… I was cleaning the house a bit and Kakashi was knocking on my door, so I sent him to go buy me groceries."

Iruka and Kurenai looked at Kakashi with amusement sparkling in their eyes.

"She mistook me for an errand boy," Kakashi snapped, his eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, and after he came back, I found out he actually had to watch me." Kagome laughed.

"Interesting," Kurenai smiled.

"How about you guys," Iruka asked.

Pursing her lips, Kurenai replied, "Well Kagome came to my house while I was training so I could train her. Kakashi was observing her in my tree."

"Uh, do I ask Kagome to retell it, or what?" Iruka asked.

"Um, yeah that's basically it…" Kagome said, placing a finger on her bottom lip, "I just went home to tell Kakashi that I was going to go against Mizuki. He already knew, told me that Mizuki was out of my league and I needed to train with Genjutsu. So I should go see this 'Genjutsu Goddess'—"

Kurenai blushed and Kakashi tilted his head in embarrassment.

"At first I thought nothing of it, I thought that was her nickname or something," Kagome said innocently, "Then when I found out he was in her tree I began to wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Kakashi asked her in a deep threatening voice, glaring daggers at her head.

"If _you_ made up the name or something and thought she was a goddess," Kagome answered, completely ignoring his glare, "I mean you knew where she lived, and you were waiting in her tree watching her train—"

The innocence in her voice made it all the worse. And Kakashi had to admit that if she were talking about anything or anyone else, he'd think she was cute. But she wasn't, so he just wanted to strangle her. Just a little bit.

"Shut up now, please," Kakashi groaned his head against the table and an arm over his head.

Kagome blinked in confusion and rubbed his back, "Poor Kakashi is worn out."

"Here's your soup," The owner said placing a bowl in front of each of them.

Kurenai sweat dropped, "Oh my…"

Iruka slurped up his ramen, "Well Kagome, you definitely do know how to liven up a story."

"Thanks," Kagome smiled, finally putting her chopsticks that she had been holding inside her soup.

Kagome took a bite of her meat and squealed in pleasure, "This is so delicious, how does yours taste?" She looked over her shoulder, looking forward to seeing Kakashi without his mask, eating.

"It was really good," Kakashi answered, looking happy as the other three gawked at him and his empty bowl.

"H-how did you _**do**_ that!" Kagome finally asked.

"I put the food in my mouth, chewed, and swallowed," Kakashi shrugged, "Just like you."

The three looked at each other and shrugged before they continued to eat.

"Kakashi, is that you?" A feminine voice asked.

Everyone turned their heads to see a girl his age, short brown hair and a band-aid on each cheek standing not far away from him with a hurt and slightly betrayed face.

"Oh, hi Rin," Kakashi greeted, "You remember Kagome… This is her friend from the academy, Iruka. And that's Kurenai."

"I see," Rin said, looking down.

"You want to eat with us?" Kagome asked politely.

The hurt expression on Rin's face flashed into a glare directly at Kagome, before reverting back, "Hm."

'What did I do?' Kagome thought as Rin took her seat next to Kakashi.

'Loser, acts like she's the leader of the group,' Rin thought, feeling bitter, 'at least I'm stronger and Kakashi's teammate.'

"What would you like to order?" The man asked her.

"Hm," Rin puckered her lips, "I think I'll get…"

Kagome sighed before turning over to Kurenai, moving her head past Iruka, "So does that mean that she is or isn't eating with us?"

Kurenai shrugged, "I think she just decided to eat here."

"Cause if that's the case, I'm going home," Kagome informed in a whisper. Kagome didn't like that Rin glared at her, "Kakashi can eat with her."

"I'll get the Pork loin Stew," Rin smiled.

"Yeah, I think we should just go," Kurenai said, pulling out money and standing up.

"Yeah, me too," Iruka sighed grabbing his wallet as well, "Besides, I was already _eating_ before any of you came."

"Okay," Kagome sighed looking over her shoulder to Rin, who was staring flirtatiously at Kakashi.

"We should leave, too." Kakashi sighed in a bored manner, pulling out his money, "We should train before it gets late."

Rin gaped, "Train?" That hurt. Kakashi never offered to train with _her_. Not since they became a two-manned team instead of four.

"Hai," Kakashi said, looking at her for the second time that day. "Kagome has a challenge against someone at the academy next week."

"Oh, good luck," Rin said to Kagome, 'I hope you lose! I hope you embarrass yourself!'

"Arigato," Kagome smiled, pulling out her own money and standing.

Kagome turned her head slightly and saw the hurt, angry look on Rin's face and felt guilty. "Kakashi, should we stay with her?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, not even looking at Kagome, "Don't be stupid, she probably just wants to eat in peace."

"Oh," Kagome said, 'I guess Kakashi would know more about Rin than I would.'

Rin watched as the two left, glaring daggers at Kagome's back, feeling betrayed. 'How could you, Kakashi?'

"Here's your order," The cook grinned, making Rin drop her head on the table.

She lifted her head after grabbing her chopsticks and tore them apart. 'I can't believe that they're training together!'

'Who does she think she is, anyway!' Rin growled as she stabbed her meat with her utensils.

After eating so fast that she didn't even really taste her food, she pulled out her money and placed it roughly on the table.

"_**I'll show her."**_

___..._

_So I finally got the time to update this chapter, yay! I wanted to edit over it one more time, but then I doubt I'd be able to post the next chapter before I leave again... Anyway, Rin's role won't be like how it was before, if you read the original version of this. Hopefully I can post on friday, again. We shall see. D But enjoy this chapter._


	6. Training Day

_**Just so everyone knows, I forgot to add this in the story, slap me, but it was in my head! D: Since day one at the Academy, Kakashi's made Kagome wear shorts under her skirt, because of training and modesty... BUT the clothes she will be wearing doesn't come in until she graduates from the Academy :D**_

Chapter 6: Training Day

Kagome leaned against the rough bark of a tree, panting heavily. 'Where is he? Is he to the left, the right, up?'

Even though her whole body ached, she felt her blood pumping within her veins again she was excited and having… fun?

"How about right under you," Kakashi said, appearing from underground and pulling her down by her ankles. To his surprise, her body dissipated into clouds, 'Damn.'

Before Kakashi could even turn his head, Kagome grabbed him by his vest and flipped him over her body; he easily caught foot with the ground and poised his kunai.

Kagome charged at him with her own kunai, both smirked as their weapons clashed together.

"You're getting better," Kakashi complimented, though he was not nearly as tired as she was. Being overpowered, Kagome swiftly pulled back the kunai, ducked her body and tried to pull his legs, but he jumped and pushed her head into the dirt, "A lot better."

Kagome tiredly pushed her body up and let out a tired heavy sigh, "Not to your level yet though."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and looked at her stupidly, "Well of course not, baka. You're not even a genin and I'm a Jonin."

Kagome stood up, "I guess you're right…" Wow… She felt so heavy, how was she able to stand when her knees felt like they were going to explode?

"But I really think that you're beyond the genin level, in fact, I think you're at the chuunin level," Kakashi mused, quite proud of himself. "Even academically; you're all A's."

Kagome blushed and raised a gloved hand to her flushed cheek. She'd been practicing a lot and she was glad to finally be getting some notice and compliments.

She really did need to get working on her miko powers and ninjutsu, though. Ninjutsu was hard and took a lot of chakra, so after learning a couple of Jutsu, she put that on hold.

"Wow, look at how dark it is," Kakashi said, looking up to the sky with a hand on his hip, "We've been at it for hours…"

"Almost six hours," Kagome informed after looking at her watch. "I'm going to take a bath."

"Me too," Kakashi agreed.

Kagome went upstairs in the master bedroom to take her bath while Kakashi showered in the downstairs bathroom. As usual, Kakashi was done first, and went to her fridge and pulled out some food.

'I am seriously getting too comfortable here,' Kakashi thought momentarily before shrugging it off. 'But hey that's what friends were for, right?' Yes, he could finally admit without having a little fight in his head, that Kagome was a friend.

Kagome came down the stairs, her eyes closed and her cheeks flushed. Her raven hair was still damp and hung loosely over her shoulders. She was wearing her favorite SHAM pajamas as usual. "That was an amazing bath."

Kakashi stared at her flushed face for a few seconds longer than he intended to, but neither noticed.

"So," Kagome said, opening her light brown eyes and smiling, "we should watch a movie or something."

Kakashi looked into her eyes and saw that they were brown again. Though he never mentioned anything to her because it was most likely a doujutsu, he found it interesting that her eyes completely changed. When they were brown, they had a soft kindness to them. But when they were blue, they were almost cold and dark—eager for battle kind of eyes.

"I'll get the popcorn, you choose the movie," Kagome chirped, going into the kitchen. She really enjoyed watching movies after a rough training. She'd usually watch them herself while studying, since Kakashi was usually busy. Since he was just lounging on her couch, she figured today he had nothing better to do anyway.

Kakashi turned on her television and looked through the movie channels, and finally found one that he thought would be interesting. Fortunately, the movie only started a couple of minutes ago.

Kagome walked out from the kitchen with a large bowl of popcorn and sweat dropped at seeing the movie he chose to put on. She walked right next to him and put the bowl on his lap, "Fast and the Furious, right?"

"Tokyo Drift," Kakashi added. 'How come there aren't any ninja movies on when you need them?'

"Really," Kagome giggled nervously, 'Oh no, why did I let him choose the movie, of course he would choose this boy movie. Next time I'm so going to make him watch a total chick flick.'

The sound of glass breaking and a car screeching startled Kagome and she jumped and turned to the television.

She took a seat next to him wordlessly and watched as an American guy stepped out of his car to face another American male and a horde of people started to surround them. "What's going on?"

Kakashi shrugged, "The blonde guy thought that the brown haired guy was hitting on his girlfriend, they insulted each other, so the football player threw a baseball at his window."

Kagome mouthed an 'o' as she continued to watch. Maybe this movie had a little romance in it after all.

"Why don't you nice boys let your cars do the talking?" A pretty American blonde girl suggested. 'Cars… such amazing things, too bad I can't put one down the well then run over Naraku with it. But then… who would pay for the damages, maybe the feudal era has some kind of wagon or horse insurance ha-ha-ha. Oh Kami, why can't I stop thinking? Pay attention to the movie, Kagome!'

"I only race for pink slips." The seeming victim said.

"This car goes for eighty grand," The blonde replied, "What would I do with a broken ass piece of shit like that?" Words like those would have made her flinch before, but not anymore. The half demon had already corrupted her innocent mind.

After the crowd went into a fit of hysterics, the blonde girl spoke again, "What about me?" The two men looked at her in question, and she said slowly, "Winner gets me."

'Did she mean that in a dating way or sex way?' Kagome thought as she sweat dropped and gaped. Kagome scowled as she saw what the girl was wearing, and her frown deepened when she saw that Kakashi seemed to like it, 'I've got to see this.'

Kakashi flinched as Kagome roughly grabbed some of the popcorn from his lap. He glanced at her with his peripheral vision and held back a sigh, 'What's her problem?'

Kakashi tried to stretch as the movie ended and the credits started scrolling down the screen, but noticed that Kagome's head was leaned against his arm. When this happened, he didn't even know. 'Should I wake her up?'

Looking at Kagome's face, and then remembering her temper from being woken up in the morning, he threw his head back against the couch and decided not to. He carefully turned his body so that he could lie down and immediately regret doing so.

Instead of her just leaning her head against _just_ his shoulder, she was now laying on his chest in between his legs. He dropped his head in defeat, 'I should have thought this over better.'

He gently pushed upwards on her shoulder, but frowned when she just moved herself to be even closer to him. He couldn't quite get his arms comfortable, but to avoid any unconscious cuddling, he put his arms in back of his head. 'Whatever, if she thinks I did this on purpose, I'll make sure she knows that this is all her fault.'

Iruka watched in confusion as Kagome whizzed past him during the laps, and without even so much as a 'hello'. Running faster to catch up with her, he frowned when she only sped up some more.

Kagome looked down, feeling bad for acting so rude and immature with Iruka, but she was too embarrassed to talk with anyone at the moment.

'What did I do? Is she mad at me?' Iruka asked himself as he carefully recalled the previous day's events. He hadn't done _anything_ that was worth getting angry over. He played the whole meeting at Ichiraku four times and was not able to think of anything.'

Kagome finally slowed down after releasing some endorphins, "Gomen Iruka, I guess I just needed some air."

"Is it your time of month?" Iruka blurted causing Kagome to turn beet red in anger and embarrassment.

Kagome pushed him over, in embarrassment, not anger. She didn't mean to knock the poor boy over, but she wouldn't apologize. "I cannot believe you just asked me that!"

Iruka blinked from his spot on the ground as the other snickering students passed him. He shook it off and stood up again and caught up with her, "Well then, why are you mad at me?"

Still glaring at him while they ran, she answered, "Because, I had the most humiliating morning, and now I'm having the most humiliating afternoon!—Thanks to you!"

'She's so scary,' He thought to himself after having her bite his head off, "Well what happened this morning?"

"Ugh, you don't want to know," Kagome groaned. Her facial expression showed the embarrassment she was feeling and now Iruka _r_eally wanted to know what happened.

"Yeah, I do, tell me." Iruka pried, and she tilted her head to look at him—yup, that expression that said he wouldn't be dropping the subject.

Kagome let out a heavy sigh and looked at him, "Well, let's just say I feel violated."

When Iruka simply raised an eyebrow at her, she continued.

"I was watching this movie with Kakashi last night," Kagome started after letting out another long heavy sigh, "And we were sitting on the couch, right?"

Iruka nodded, trying not to frown, 'Why do I feel upset about this?'

"And I fell asleep during some point of the movie, because it was about cars and it bored me a little and I was already tired. And you know what that pervert does?" Kagome asked rhetorically, "Nothing, he doesn't wake me up or move me somewhere else or sleep somewhere else himself! No, instead he sleeps next to me! No, that would be okay, he slept _under_ me!"

Despite still having that chest-clenching feeling in his chest, he still didn't understand, "Is that all you're mad about?"

Kagome glared at him, "What do you mean 'is that _all_'? We woke up in a very awkward position that could have been avoided!"

Iruka rolled his eyes, "Well I'm just saying. It's not that big of a deal… It's not like he took advantage of you or anything…"

Kagome let her jaw drop in surprise, "You're 13 years old—you're nasty!"

Iruka laughed, "Whatever, prude."

Kagome sighed with a pout, 'I guess I was overreacting, but still…'

After the class had finished their laps, Mizuki made his way to Iruka and Kagome. "Hey Iruka… Hello girl."

A tick appeared on Kagome's head as she raised her shaking fist, "This _girl _has a name!"

"Is that so," Mizuki smirked jokingly, "Whatever it is, _girl_, is probably better sounding."

"My name is Kagome! Ka-go-me, got it!" Kagome yelled before storming away angrily.

Iruka followed her.

"Iruka, I thought you would train with us," Mizuki said, gesturing for him to join him, effectively pissing off the girl by ignoring her.

Iruka looked back at Mizuki, then to Kagome, 'Kagome'. His first choice was Kagome, but his mind tried to rationalize the situation. They were both his closest friends. But he had known Mizuki first. Wasn't there some sort of rule that said that you had to give more attention to the first, so they don't feel replaced?

"It's okay Iruka," Kagome said upon seeing the troubled look on his face, "Train with Mizuki."

Iruka felt terrible, but he just nodded his head and followed Mizuki to his group.

"He'll need the training," Kagome mumbled under her breath as she went to explore the training area.

"Would you like to train using one of these weapons?" Sensei Uran asked with a grin on his face.

"Sure," Kagome nodded looking at the variety with a finger tapping her bottom lip, 'Sango and Inuyasha would really love this.'

She scanned the long table and stopped at a large bow-blade, 'A bow…'

"Good choice, Kagome," Sensei Kenshi smiled, "Though you should probably practice shooting with a regular bow first, you may get hurt with the blade-"

"Actually," Kagome stated, "I've had a lot of experience with bows and arrows."

"Oh," Sensei Kenshi challenged, picking up three of the many balls that were on the table. "Here are some targets, the arrows are right there."

Taking one of the balls, Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Um, how is this supposed to be a target?"

"You throw it in the air and it will transform into a soulless moving target," Sensei Uran said joining into the conversation, "But be careful, they might attack you. Good thing for everyone else though, they'll only attack the one who throws them up."

Kagome smirked, "Interesting, okay!" She walked away from the desk and distanced from everyone.

After getting the bow ready, and putting her full quiver over her shoulders, she took the two balls from Sensei Kenshi and the one she was already holding, and threw them in the air. Not even five seconds later and the three tiny balls grew to a massive size in comparison, looking like baby demons, if anything, to Kagome.

When the creatures in the air let out a loud high pitched shriek, the girls in her class screamed in horror, and took cover while the boys took out kunai, ready to fight if the _huge_ monsters in the air came close.

Kagome pulled back an arrow, aiming at one of the winged beasts, and let loose a regular arrow.

One similar thought was spread throughout the area, 'She's a good shot.'

As the arrow pierced the thigh, the creature cried in pain and swooped down to attack Kagome. She gasped but jumped out of the way, over its head and then back to the ground, 'A regular arrow won't do much damage… I'll have to get serious!'

Before the creature could fly away, Kagome slashed its back with the blade of the bow.

As Kagome had all of her attention focused on this one creature, one of the ones that were hovering in the air swooped down and picked her up with its jaws.

Kagome shrieked in shock, but regained her composure and thrust a kick into its neck, making it let her go. She was never so glad that Kakashi made her wear shorts under her skirt until her special order uniform came in. Before she even landed, she pulled out an arrow quickly and shot a purification arrow hitting it straight in the stomach.

Satisfied that the creature was destroyed, and ignoring the many gasps she heard, she twisted a landing and jumped on top of another creature that was too close to avoid and jammed the blade into its neck. The second creature disappeared into a shiny dust as well.

The third one was closing in on her and she readied her bow and once she let the arrow fly, she gasped when the creature swiftly leaned its body and effectively dodged her attack. Then the creature head butt her, making her roll on the ground and dislocate her weapon.

Kagome shook her head and mentally cursed, searching for the weapon, "crap." She cursed aloud this time when she saw that the weapon was behind the creature that was nearing her. She stood up, trying to disregard the pain in her stomach. She didn't have time to reach for a kunai, so instead, she got in a ready position and when the creature was close enough, she kicked its face as hard as she could, feeling bad when it yelped like a dog.

Then she jumped on top of it, clenching her thighs around its back so she wouldn't be thrown off, and twisted its neck at the right spot to kill it.

After she defeated the last creature, a slow clap followed by a loud applause rang as she fell onto her knees from the space left behind by the artificial creature.

"Well done Kagome, I'm impressed!" Sensei Kenshi complimented making her blush, "What was that power you used? It was different from your chakra."

The color change in her eyes didn't faze him as he was already used to seeing it change during training. The color change was only noticed by the two sensei, Kakashi, and Iruka. Iruka was the only one that had asked her about it though. The others must have seen her father in action or read up on her clan or something.

"Mm, oh you know," Kagome laughed nervously, "I'm a miko of the Higurashi Shrine!"

Kenshi knew all about that name, and he knew everything that he was forbidden from saying, but would it be against the Hokage's rules if he said that he didn't know they were still in tuned with their spiritual powers? Either way, he would not risk it. "Oh, I see."

Kagome smiled, glad that he hadn't pressed into the subject. "Here's your weapon."

"No, no, I want you to keep it," Kenshi said, raising a hand in rejection of the weapon, "You work well with this weapon and we have others. Take some more arrows as well."

"Really, okay," Kagome smiled putting the quiver that was on her back and picking another much larger one.

"And there's a Velcro patch on the side, so you won't have to carry the bow-blade," Sensei Uran said, showing her where it was.

"Wow," Kagome chirped, "I don't know what to say… Arigato sensei Kenshi, sensei Uran!"

"That girl is such a show-off," one of her classmates sneered with her friends, "And look, they're _giving _her a weapon! Not fair!"

"Psh, remember when she first came here," her other friend commented, "What the hell happened?"

"Oh, come on guys," The last of the three friends said, "She deserves the weapon. She's been working hard and training hard. She came here older, weaker, and clueless, and now she's at our level."

The other two glared at her with defensive mean eyes, as if she was a traitor.

"It's not that I like her, I don't like her, just like you two," She continued, her eyes shifting, "Maybe the sensei would give you guys something if you tried training with it."

The other two just scoffed and turned away from her.

Iruka ran past the stunned faces of his classmates to Kagome, "Wow that was incredible! You have to teach me!"

Kagome grinned, "I may not be able to give you spiritual powers, but I can show you how to shoot an arrow."

Iruka pout, "Well then there's no fun in that."

Kagome laughed, "Well you could try to find a weapon that suits you more, come look, there's a whole table."

The two were looking around, unknown of the presence that was closing in on them.

"That wasn't half bad," A familiar nuisance of a voice said, "I'm looking forward to our battle."

Kagome just kept her lips in a thin line.

"What the…" Mizuki squint his eyes and stared into her own, "Why are your eyes blue?"

"Oh, you know," Kagome sighed, a sarcastic tone already settling in her voice, "Contacts."

"I see," Mizuki frowned, not oblivious to her sarcasm or lie, whatever that was. "Well, either way, I can't wait for our challenge."

A short silence followed after, in which Kagome raised an eyebrow, the sensei smirked, and the other students started whispering amongst each other.

"You think you can beat Kagome?" Iruka smirked playfully.

Though Iruka was only teasing, Mizuki either misconstrued him or chose to ignore him, because his calm façade was replaced with a bitter angry one as he replied, "Of course, dumbass! That was **nothing,** you've only seen _he_r fight—you haven't even seen me in action yet!"

"Well show us what you got then," Kagome mocked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Very well," Mizuki snorted, grinding his teeth against each other. He had to hold himself back from swearing at her.

He scanned the table and picked up a long chain that had a large heavy metal spiked ball at the end and hastily grabbed three balls and threw them above his head. "You're about to see some _real _power now!"

Sensei Kenshi elbowed Sensei Uran and nudged his head forward in Kagome's direction. Her eyebrows were furrowed together and she looked really focused on not just the battle, but Mizuki's style. She seemed to be analyzing his movements and his momentum while the other students just seemed to watch for the heat of the moment and see if Mizuki could land hits.

Sensei Uran chuckled and pat Sensei Kenshi's shoulder, "You have a good student."

"Really good," He corrected, "If I could, I would have made her a genin already."

"Ah!" Mizuki shouted as he tore through the scales of the beasts. His movements may not have been graceful or even considered to be talented, but his strong blows seemed to be effective. He had wounds here and there, and his arm felt like it was sprained, but pride had him hiding any sign of pain. There was still one more; he spun the chain over his head and threw it at the beast, but it dodged and used its tail to trip him. During the fall, Mizuki was disarmed and he cursed as the beast slowly approached him; globs of thick saliva dripped from the sides of its mouth.

"Shall we interfere?" Sensei Kenshi asked, but was declined.

Mizuki rolled in a crouching position, pulled out a kunai, and attempted to jump away, but its toad-like tongue shot out and pulled him down by his ankle. After crashing to the floor, Mizuki stabbed his kunai into the beast's tongue before it would get sucked back into its mouth. It let out a terrible shriek of pain as its tongue bled and was trapped to the ground. Mizuki took this chance to make a mad dash for his fallen weapon and threw it towards the beast the first second he got. He made it just in time, because the beast managed to rip its tongue in half to free itself from the kunai. He threw his weapon and bonked the creatures head.

"Wow that was awesome!" Iruka complimented, running to his friend, who merely walked past him in dismissal.

"See what you're up against, Higurashi?" Mizuki smirked, still panting profusely.

"Hm," Kagome inwardly sighed as her lips formed a straight line; she was going to try being nice to him. "You did a good job!"

"Better than you, that's for sure," Mizuki said under his breath, though he was smiling as he said it. Then he walked passed her to put the weapon on the table.

Kagome couldn't help it. She crossed her arms and snorted. And just _how_ was his battle better than hers? He came out of the battle all tired, sweaty, and wounded. His battle was at _least_ 5 minutes longer than hers. All he did was clobber, at least she showed variety. But that was just her opinion.

"Good job, Mizuki," Sensei Uran complimented, patting the boy's shoulder.

Mizuki smiled in a fake manned, and turned away, 'Why did they not give me the weapon as they had with that girl!'

Still irritated by Mizuki, Kagome walked very slowly across the training grounds and overheard the loud whispering gossip…

"Who do you think will win?"

"Mizuki, of course; he's a _man_."

"Women are just as capable as men!"

"I think Kagome will win. Even if she doesn't have the brute strength of a man, she seems to have more experience and talent on the battle field."

"In a battle, strength is more important than knowledge!"

"I disagree, sensei says knowledge is power!"

"Mizuki will win! He's the top of Sensei Uran's class!"

"Well maybe Kagome is the top of our class!"

"So it comes down to whose class is stronger?"

Kagome shook her head and smiled a little, 'So I may be the top of my class, eh?'

Just as she'd left the hearing range, Iruka entered it from following Kagome.

"But did you see that clown—Iruka? He's like their puppy or something—a follower."

Iruka turned his head at his name, the speaker wasn't aware of his presence.

"Totally, even in our class he's always following Kagome. And he's one of the lowest in our class."

Iruka sadly turned away, he had never felt so bad and useless and unwanted as he did right now. He walked faster now and caught up with Kagome, but didn't stop. He walked passed her and outside of the training grounds.

Kagome scrunched her eyebrows together sensing something wrong with Iruka, "Hey Iruka, what's up?" She placed a hand gently on his shoulder and gasped when he slapped her hand away.

"Just leave me alone," Iruka ordered, on the verge of tears, "Stop feeling sorry for me, okay? I don't need it!"

"Iruka…" She frowned, 'What happened to make you so upset all of a sudden?'

Swallowing her pride, she walked up to Mizuki, "Hey, can you go see what's wrong with Iruka? I would go myself, but I think he's mad at me."

Mizuki was about to give her a cold stare and tell her off, but in the corner of his eye, he saw the sensei looking and maybe listening to them. "Alright, tell sensei where I'm going."

Kagome nodded and turned the other way.

Mizuki sighed in irritation; both of his arms were folded behind his head. The source of his irritation was not out of laziness and the fact the _he _had to be the one to find and comfort Iruka. The source of his irritation—his confusion, his anger—was that he knew where Iruka was going and what he was doing. It annoyed him that a shinobi would bawl his eyes out over lost family. He found it trivial to be upset over it. Iruka was supposed to be a shinobi, and it was a _**code**_ that shinobi do not show their tears.

And death was bound to happen, yet even knowing that, Iruka wasted tears.

But in order to get a higher rank faster, he had to suck up to his superiors, and what better way than to be nice to the _joke_—the fragile wannabe shinobi.

And once he arrived at his destination, sure enough, was Iruka standing by that useless stone—the one that held the village heroes. It was like every time Iruka had a problem, he would cry about his _family_. Whatever he was crying about now, Mizuki was sure it didn't have anything to do with them, so why did Iruka sway his sorrows like this? It was past pitiful and to the point of annoying Mizuki.

"Iruka, are you alright?" Mizuki asked nicely, forcing a mask of pity and kindness on his face, "Everyone is worried about you."

Iruka quickly rubbed his eyes in attempt to feign an itch, "Oh, um, sorry Mizuki."

Mizuki felt the urge to smirk, but held it back, 'You're so pathetic Iruka. You can't even hide your emotions.'

"I just felt like getting some air," Iruka sighed, looking up at the sky.

"You feel better now?" Mizuki asked sympathetically.

Iruka looked down and rubbed his arm, "I just feel so useless and pathetic, you and Kagome are so much stronger than me, you know?"

'True, true, true, it's all true,' Mizuki thought darkly while making his eyes look sympathetic, "You are not useless or pathetic, Iruka, and you're strong too, you just need to train some more."

"You think I can actually catch up to you guys?" Iruka asked, his voice shaking.

'Oh my god, please don't cry you pathetic creature,' Mizuki shrugged nonchalantly, "You're not that far behind, so I'd say you can. We should get back soon, are you okay now?"

"Hai… I am, let's go back. Thank you for everything." Iruka smiled and ran back to the training grounds with Mizuki. His mood was heightened when he saw Kagome waiting just behind the bushes that fenced the training area.

"Iruka," Kagome smiled, tears brimming in her honey-brown eyes, "Are you okay?"

She really thought that he was mad at her. He felt bad for worrying and upsetting her, but it touched his heart that she cared that much.

Iruka walked slowly in front of Kagome, only leaving a few inches of space between them, "I'm great." After all, if he can become stronger than her, than he'd be worthy of dating her later on.

_**My little Author corner hehe:**_

_So sorry for the delay, oh my God… I started school before I thought I was actually going to start so I got all caught up in that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave me a nice review :D_

_Thank you to those 9 people who did review though ;u; you brightened my day. A little spoiler for chapter 7, Kagome meets Gai now =D Ciao everyone u_


	7. Gai, God of Taijutsu

Chapter 7: Gai, God of Taijutsu

"See you later, Kagome!" Iruka called, turning left to go to his own home.

"Hai," Kagome hollered before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She cleared her mind of all thoughts but Kakashi and his chakra. "Yatta, I found him!"

She was so proud of herself. Kurenai's training really did help her. Now she could feel that Kakashi wasn't at her house, but close enough. She wanted to go to Kurenai's little secret place fast, so she went to seek out Kakashi. Some guardian he was, if she were a _real_ threat to Konoha, then this place would be in some serious shit because she was almost—but not quite, free. She was the one seeking _him_ out and most of the time he wasn't even there yet when she got home.

Just as she arrived in front of a not too shavy apartment building, he stepped out, carrying some new clean clothes. For that, Kagome was thankful. He wasn't a dirty slob. His laidback, almost lazy attitude made her think he was a slob, but no, he was actually clean.

"Isn't this awesome, I can trace you now!" Kagome laughed, shaking her fists in the air in excitement. "I can be a tracker or something!"

Kakashi sweat dropped, 'Maybe, if I was _hiding_ my chakra.'

'Could I track Naraku?' She thought, her expression turning grim and serious. 'No, cause Inuyasha has the nose of a tracker, and I'm pretty sure _anything_ demon is better than human. Eye sight, sense of smell, hearing, strength—all better with demons.

It's a damned shame.

"Anyway, I came here to tell you that I want to go to Kurenai already. So let's drop off your clothes and go," Kagome ordered, putting her hands on his back and lightly pushing him forward.

Kakashi sighed, not even married yet and here he has to take orders from a girl, one that wasn't even above him in rank to add to it.

When they arrived in front of Kurenai's estate, Kurenai was sitting there, petting her cat. "You're here already?"

"Yup, so do you want to go, or just train some more?" Kagome asked cheerfully, though she really wanted to go.

She was always so cheerful sometimes. If she were anybody else, Kakashi would find her annoying. Maybe, he didn't know, it could have just been hearing his name squealed repeatedly that annoyed him to no end. In other words…fangirls.

"I'll take you now," Kurenai smiled as Kagome offered a hand to help her up. "My teammates are there right now, so you can meet them."

"And now you get to meet the God of Taijutsu," Kakashi informed, his eyes closed.

It sounded weird to both girls how Kakashi said it. When it came to mentioning Kurenai and her being the "Goddess of Genjutsu", Kagome thought he sounded as if he were a pervert calling an extremely sexy woman a goddess; and with Gai, it wasn't any different.

Kagome blinked, not really wanting to picture Kakashi gay right then, "God of Taijutsu?"

Kakashi nodded stiffly, suppressing an annoyed sigh. He was getting real tired of elaborating all the time. "He's the Kurenai of Taijutsu."

Kurenai blushed again. She tried very hard with her Genjutsu, and she loved it. She was glad, tickled even, that all of her hard work paid off and gave her a name, but she was still embarrassed by it.

"Seriously," Kagome gasped in awe, nibbling on her bottom lip, "I want to train with him! Maybe he can help me get physically stronger."

All in all, the taijutsu is what she really came to Konoha for. She didn't even know what ninjutsu or genjutsu were. But now that Kagome _knew_ what they were, she wanted to learn all of them. They would all be useful against Naraku. But with Taijutsu, she could spar against one of her friends to prove that she wasn't the useless, defenseless, little girl that she'd been.

Kurenai shook his head, "You wouldn't _want_ his help if you _knew_ him. He's really… _different_ and his training methods are scary."

"Really, how are they scary?" Kagome questioned, not hiding the reluctance in her voice. "How is he 'different'?

"You'll see for yourself," Both Kurenai and Kakashi sighed after looking at one another knowingly. Gai was someone that couldn't really be explained with normal words, you had to see for yourself to believe just how weird he was.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Kagome let herself scan around the area. It was just a simple, huge, grassy area behind a hill—which they were currently standing on top of. There were a few shinobi training one of one and there were some groups that chose to battle two or three against one. Two of the shinobi, who were just previously sparring one on one, were walking towards them.

"Kurenai, it's been a while since you've been here," A boy said, he looked young… Definitely not 18 and he was _smoking_.

"I've been busy," Kurenai stated in monotone, about to introduce Kagome, when her other teammate spoke.

"In other words, relaxing and meditating while the big boys do all the training." He joked, wrapping an arm over the other guy's neck. Before he spoke, Kagome thought he was a girl. Maybe it was just because he was thin, lanky, and _pretty _standing next to the muscular gruff looking boy with the cigarette, or maybe it was his long straight bright red hair and fair complexion.

"Kagome, I'd like you to meet my teammates," Kurenai said, ignoring her feminine looking teammate's almost sexist joke. "The one smoking is Asuma; unfortunately his bad habit of smoking is only getting worse. This is Tori, he may seem like an ass, but he… No, he really is an ass, but he's just joking, so don't take him seriously."

Kagome shook Asuma's hand with a nod.

While shaking Tori's hand, she couldn't help but admire his dark green eyes, he said, "I know I'm good looking, and it will be hard to resist my charms, but I'm not emotionally available right now."

"Right," Kagome laughed, recognizing his joking tone, "I'm not really into girls."

Kurenai and Asuma snickered while Tori just smirked.

Kagome seemed playful enough, Tori decided, "Oh, my bad, I thought you were a guy."

"Ah, so the truth comes out," Kagome smirked, she wasn't offended at all, cause she knew that while she wasn't the prettiest girl walking around, she wasn't the ugliest, definitely not manly looking. "You're gay."

Tori's smile faded as everyone, including Kakashi, laughed. "Ha, okay, you got me there."

"You know, you can just be gay," Kagome went on, faking a soothing voice, "You don't have to look and dress like a girl. Some gay guys prefer the more masculine men."

"Oh, Tori, you going to let her say that to you," Asuma choked, both from his laughter and the smoke from his cigarette.

Just as Tori opened his mouth for a comeback, another shinobi came.

"Well if it isn't the copy-ninja, Kakashi," The deep voice said.

Kakashi sighed, "Must you always address me as 'the copy-ninja'?"

Kagome noticed everyone suddenly looked uneasy or annoyed and she turned her face to see the source fully. He was an odd looking one. Not _ugly_, in her opinion, just odd.

He had really thick black eyebrows that were almost as shiny as his hair. His hair was the bowl-cut style and he was wearing her favorite color, but overdoing it. Green was a beautiful color, but to wear as much as he did was almost disturbing, well, no, it wasn't how much he was wearing, it was the style he chose to wear it with. The style, spandex, and everywhere, with orange leggings and arm bands, too.

He turned away from Kakashi to see the most beautiful thing ever, "W-who is this lovely flower that you've brought along?"

Kagome blushed under his piercing gaze, 'Just as forward as Kouga… Great.'

"Her name is Kagome. Kagome, this is Gai, or 'The God of Taijutsu'," Kurenai introduced, ignoring her teammates' looks of confusion. Gai didn't seem to be fazed or flattered like Kurenai. He must have been very secure and confident in his abilities.

"Ah, so you're the famous 'Gai'," Kagome said with a pure, innocent smile gracing her face.

'Wrong move,' everyone except her and Gai thought. With a smile like that, now he'd be even more into her.

Gai stood in front of Kagome and somehow got a hold of her hand and brought it to his lips, "Nice to meet you, Kagome. Your name is just as beautiful and youthful as you are."

"Ano, arigato, Gai," Kagome smiled nervously, slowly pulling her hand back so she wouldn't offend him. Even with her experience with Kouga, she was still very flustered. And admittedly, this guy seemed… weird. "So, are you really as good at taijutsu as they say you are?"

"The best," Gai said proudly, and flirtatiously if Kakashi would say so himself. He flashed his freakishly white teeth and posed in a weird fashion that was ridiculously funny. His legs spread, a wink, and a peace sign.

Kakashi was shocked to say the least that Kagome was laughing. Usually girls, hell, _everyone_, usually got somewhat disgusted, disturbed or just thought Gai was really weird.

Kagome really was different. It must be a foreigner thing.

"I want to see you and… Kakashi go against each other," Kagome pleaded, "And then maybe I can go against you?"

"Y-you're a shinobi?" Gai blinked, "But… You're so pretty and your skin looks too smooth for the shinobi way."

He looked her up and down, seemingly unnoticed by Kagome. She dressed like an average female civilian. And she wore gloves, which were probably the most shinobi looking thing about her. He could feel Kakashi glaring at him, but didn't look up.

So Kakashi was after Kagome as well.

Kagome smiled and rubbed the back of her neck, "Well, I'm sort of new…"

"What level are you?" Gai asked, giving her a look-over that made her feel uncomfortable. Even though she knew he wasn't checking her out, the way he openly looked her up and down made her feel self-conscious. And that made her want to slap him, but she refrained.

"… I'm in the academy." Kagome answered.

"And you want to go against me, a Jonin?" Gai smiled when she slowly nodded, "So filled with spunk and youth!"

"For now, I'll go against Kakashi so you can see what you'll be up against." Gai grinned at her again, giving her that pose with his thumb up once again, only this time with a burning passion.

Kurenai, Asuma, and Tori looked at each other, and dismissed themselves.

They knew this fight would last a long time.

Kagome found a comfortable spot just a few yards away from where their battle would take place. Her back was leaned against a tree as she waited for them to get started.

"Kakashi, I am prepared to fight you for her," Gai said as he took his stance.

"She's not a prize," Kakashi stiffly retorted. "Regardless, I don't see her that way."

"Well if you don't want to be with her," Gai smirked, "Then you wouldn't mind me being with her?"

"No," Kakashi snapped with a dead-panned voice. He was glaring at Gai now.

Even though Kakashi answered Gai's question without hesitation, he still wondered… Would he mind?

"I'll take your word on that," Gai said as he lurched forward.

"I doubt she'd be interested anyway," Kakashi said as he, too, lurched forward.

Kagome watched with excitement as they fought. They used moves that she'd never seen or even heard of from the academy. Moves at a speed that would put Kouga to shame, moves that she'd bet could take on youkai. Though, at times, the fight seemed to draw out. When they simply walked around each other and looked as though they were talking to each other. She couldn't hear anything, and she was kind of curious.

As she watched in fascination, Kagome wondered why Kakashi was so easy to call Gai the God of Taijutsu when he seemed just as good, if not better. Well, maybe not _better_, because if he _were_ better, the battle would be done, right?

And she also noticed that Kakashi seemed to be a lot faster and maybe stronger than when he sparred with her. So unless fighting against a person was really that different than watching, he was going easy on her.

Hours passed by, and Kagome was beginning to get hungry. Those two _had_ to be hungry after all this fighting. She looked at her watch, almost five hours passed. She looked back at the two sparring and they both looked tired, but there was a glint in their eyes that told her they weren't about to stop anytime soon—not until the other fell or gave up.

Kagome stood up unnoticed and made her way to her house.

Gai raised his powerful deadly leg for a kick that was blocked by Kakashi. In a flash, Gai appeared further back, spinning four times before going in for a good punch when the smell of food hit his nose.

The same smell must have hit Kakashi, because he let his guard down as he looked to where Kagome was sitting with a blanket laid out and trays sprawled everywhere.

Gai took this chance to attack, but Kakashi's guard wasn't completely down as he was able to block.

"Why don't you come and eat?" Kagome asked, once she saw the hunger on their faces. It would have made her laugh if she wasn't so nervous. Inuyasha openly complained about her cooking, and he was a truthful guy.

Sango and Miroku were kind enough to give her some sweet white lies. But now two other people were going to try her food and she just hoped that they wouldn't be like Inuyasha. Well, if she were going down the 'hoping' path, she would hope that she actually cooked a good meal.

Kakashi and Gai looked at each other and they nodded.

"Oh, my beautiful flower, this food smells delicious!" Gai exclaimed as he took a seat to Kagome's right.

'Yeah, just wait until you take a bite,' Kagome thought with a smile.

Kagome picked up three paper plates and passed them out, "Well, get whatever you want. I hope you like it!"

Once they finished eating, Gai grabbed Kagome's hands between his own, "Oh Kagome, you are beautiful, youthful, kind, and now you can cook. You are everything a man could ever ask for in a woman!"

Finally, someone who appreciated her cooking—unlike a certain dog-eared hanyou… 'Inuyasha…'

"Um, thank you Gai!" Kagome said nervously, her voice seemed lower, as if she was sad, but Gai didn't notice. "Well, I'm going to go home and take this stuff."

"Here, I'll help you," Kakashi said picking up all the empty plates and putting it in the basket.

Kagome smiled at him as she took their paper plates and threw it in the trashcan that was not too far away from them.

"I can walk you home, Kagome." Gai offered, trying to take the basket away from Kakashi.

"Actually, I'm staying with Kagome for now, so I'm going to be walking her back anyway," Kakashi decided to rub in. His ego was stroked when Gai gave him a surprised look.

Gai's eyes widened, "W-what!?"

"It's his mission," Kagome said as she saw the implicating look on Gai's face. "He has to watch me until I become a genin so he knows I'm not a threat."

Kakashi didn't really mind that Kagome ruined his fun. Though the look on Gai's face was funny—he looked mortified, almost. As if he truly believed that Kagome and him were together or at least that she was 'easy' and he was 'sleazy'.

"Oh," Gai said, and murmured "lucky bastard" as he turned away.

Kagome whipped her blanket of any crumbs of food and grass then folded it. "That was an awesome fight, Kakashi. I _need_ to train with him! It's weird, I've been training with _you_ for a while now and you've never used moves like you did back there. That was amazing!"

Kakashi cleared his throat as he felt heat rise to his cheeks.

"I don't see why you make Gai out to be the God of Taijutsu, you were just as great!" Kagome beamed. "It sucks though; I wanted to fight, too!"

"Well, he's even better at Taijutsu when he isn't wearing all the weights," Kakashi sighed, "During the Jonin exams, he got serious and he took off those orange leggings and arm bands and underneath are really heavy weights."

"Really," Kagome said in wonder. The idea sparked her interest. 'Maybe I should do that…' It _did_ seem dorky, but cool at the same time. But if it could help her get stronger, then she'd be willing to risk her dignity and social status, "I guess he really is weird, but he seems cool, too."

'Unbelievable,' Kakashi thought, 'Someone, let alone a girl, and an attractive one at that, thinks that Gai is cool.'

"And you," Kagome smacked his arm lightly. "You never told me you were known, too!"

Kakashi looked at her lazily, "Hm?"

"You're known as 'the Copy-ninja'," Kagome quoted around the title, "How come you didn't tell me?"

"I don't see why I should have," Kakashi sighed, rolling his shoulders.

"Does it have anything to do with your left eye?" Kagome boldly asked. She had been learning about some kekkei genkai users and doujutsu. And if he did have that, then maybe he could help her figure out if what happened with her eyes was a doujutsu like his.

Kakashi looked away, "My other name would tell you the answer… They also call me, Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye."

"I thought the Sharingan was supposed to be from the Uchiha Clan or something like that," Kagome said in confusion, "So what can it do?"

Just as Kakashi was about to give her a light description, for Kami knows what reason, she stopped him.

"You know what, never mind," Kagome smiled, "I'd rather see it in action. Were you using it against Gai at all?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I only use it in serious battles."

Kagome smirked, "So it wasn't just Gai holding back, you were, too!"

"Well, he could find a way to make the Sharingan useless," Kakashi said, not wanting to tell her anymore. He didn't want her using the information against him if she _were_ a threat to Konoha, or simply just training.

"I see," Kagome slumped, "Well, maybe one day I'll see."

"Hopefully not," Kakashi retorted, "That would mean danger."

When they arrived at Kagome's estate, Kagome looked at his sleepy eyes, "Well Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye, you should go to bed. You had a long day. I'm going to go clean out the basement."

Kakashi nodded and made his way to the bathroom, maybe he'd shower and get ready for bed first.

Lugging over boxes and crates full of stuff, she separated the weapons, clothes, and accessories into three piles. Then she came in contact with a huge locked treasure chest looking box.

"I wonder what's in here," Kagome asked aloud, almost excited.

She tried pulling on the lock with no avail. "Okay, so you want to play it that way, do you?"

Kagome ran up the stairs and began looking around the house until she found what she was looking for. She could hear the shower water running and was surprised he still had the energy to shower. She laughed; almost evilly as she made her way back down to the basement with what she was looking for in her hands.

"Ms. Box, meet Mr. Crowbar!" Kagome smirked as she stuck the bar inside and stepped on it, breaking the lock.

'That was easier than expected…'Kagome thought, _almost_ disappointed as she opened the box to reveal family scrolls, money, and a picture of Kagome, Souta, Kagome's mother, father, grandfather and another old lady who was around her grandfather's age—but looked more like her father.

Kagome took out the picture, 'That's going in my room.'

Sighing, she opened up the first scroll. On the top, it had her last name and the name of the Jutsu. In smaller kanji was a description of the Jutsu and how to use it… "I think I'll just take this whole box up."

She put the picture back in the box, and lugged it up the stairs.

There were so many scrolls. The color change of her eyes finally made sense. Apparently she had a doujutsu, and it was explained how it was activated—by feeling the excitement and rush of battle. It can be self-activated, too. Her vision would get better, and it would enhance her other senses as well. Unfortunately, as the scroll got deeper into the details of the doujutsu, it stopped, or rather, was ripped.

Kagome laughed dryly as she saw another scroll; this one had information about the power her father taught her. It was called Kyushu Suru Utsusu no Jutsu. In other words, it would absorb an attack of wind, fire, water, earth, ice, lava, wood, and lightning, and throw it back at an opponent. Once an attack is absorbed, it will forever be stored. There were no 'hand signs' for this technique, but the folding of fingertips was what molded the chakra. This was her kekkei genkai.

As Kagome looked through the titles of the Jutsu, she noticed that they all varied in elements. It was strange considering clans usually specialized in one, maybe two, three if they were really lucky, elements.

Kagome separated the scrolls into three piles; the easy Jutsu, the 'normal' Jutsu, and the hard Jutsu—though the easy Jutsu didn't really strike her fancy. They seemed boring, but could be effective in sparring. The harder Jutsu that used a lot more Chakra seemed way too dangerous. They would be very useful in the feudal era against _demons_.

Running her hand through her hair and sighing, she stiffened when she saw a scroll that had _her_ name on it. She examined it a little, it was new. She tried to open it, but there was some kind of spell on the scroll.

"Hm," Kagome pouted, "Of all the scrolls…"

If there was a spell on it, surely it was something _really_ good. Was it a Jutsu? Could it be something better? Maybe it wasn't even for _her_ specifically. Maybe she was named after some relative that she didn't know about.

She was just about to lift another scroll, when the time caught her peripheral vision.

"Oh no," Kagome screamed, dropping the scroll and clutching her head, "It's already past 12!"

How was she supposed to do well against that little punk, Mizuki, if she was going to be all tired?!

She quickly threw all the scrolls back on the box, though still in her organized way. The scroll with her name was placed on top. She wondered what contents the scroll could possibly contain. And it was specifically for _her_. What if it was something lame, like information on her or a birth certificate?

After brushing her teeth and hair, she went to bed for much needed sleep.

**Hey Everyone, sorry for the long hiatus, been busy! D: But I hope to get back in the game :O Also, I will be posting a poll on my profile regarding this story, so please take a look ^^ Thank youuuuu**


	8. Kagome vs Mizuki

Chapter 8: Kagome versus Mizuki

Today was the day.

Kagome took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was suddenly feeling sick, nervous to her core, and she didn't entirely understand why. She had been confident about this battle since the very beginning, and all of a sudden she was getting cold feet?

How many obstacles would there be? What _kind _of obstacles?

The sound of thumping, distinctive punching and kicking noises made its way to her ears, 'Kakashi's morning training…'

Not even a second later, her eyes snapped open and she bolted out of the room, "Oh no! Kakashi's morning training started already!"

Kakashi didn't start training until she left the house, which meant Kagome was running late. And today was a big day, so she _had _to eat _something_. She ran to the kitchen and put two pieces of toast in the toaster, then quickly ran to the bathroom to brush her hair.

Kakashi then walked in, unnoticed by Kagome, and went straight for the toaster and took out the lightly golden crisps of bread.

'I got to hurry!' Kagome shouted to herself, bouncing on one foot trying to get her socks and sneakers on, when she noticed _him_.

Her mouth slowly opened, "you!"

"Morning," Kakashi said, his eyes crinkling in a smile. Was he mocking her?!

Kagome sweat dropped, her temper flaring. The definition of anger was written on her expression. "You ate my toast!"

"Don't eat _toast_ when you're going to need energy," Kakashi sighed patiently, as if he were an instructor trying to give a student one of the many Zen life-lessons.

"But I didn't have _time_ to _make_ anything," Kagome seethed through her teeth slowly, raising a fist.

"There's oatmeal in the microwave," Kakashi said starting to walk away, "By the way, you're not running late, so put your shoes and clothes on right."

Kagome blinked, "You made me breakfast?"

"Yup," Kakashi sighed, "I knew you'd be running late since I heard what time you went to bed last night. You like my little ruse?"

Blushing, Kagome rubbed the back of her head, "Aw, you shouldn't have."

That was shocking, but Kagome just shrugged and looked at the microwave. He was right; she still had 45 minutes before she was supposed to leave. Smiling, she took the warm oatmeal out of the microwave, poured her raisins and almonds on top, and began eating, 'That was really nice of him… How unexpected…'

After putting her bowl in the sink and letting the warm water rinse out the leftover contents, she washed her dishes, took a quick shower while wearing a hair cap, and got re-dressed.

As she walked past her backyard sliding door, she saw Kakashi training with her dummy. "See you later!"

He nodded, not really knowing if she saw or not.

Boom new scene!

"Well, well, well," a snide voice snickered from the shadows, not too far away from the shinobi academy, "If it isn't Kagome."

Kagome looked up, not surprised to see _her_. What her problem was, Kagome didn't know, "Tsubaki."

Tsubaki frowned at the introduction, "So, you're finally going to fight Mizuki. _Good luck_!"

Kagome closed her eyes, her eyebrow arching in irritation, "Arigato."

Tsubaki frowned at the lack of anger in her response, but before she could even think of another insult, Kagome hurriedly passed her and made her way to class.

The roar of clapping filled her ears when she walked into the classroom. It made her shy and for a moment, she forgot where she sat.

"Well Kagome, today is your big day!" Sensei Kenshi sighed loudly. "You better win; show them who the better class is."

"Right," Kagome laughed nervously as she brought her hand up to her warm cheek.

"Well, scoot, out of my class and take a friend to train a bit," Sensei Kenshi scolded, gesturing her out.

Kagome quickly nodded and jumped over to Iruka's desk, pulling him up from his desk by his collared jacket.

Everyone in the class thought that either something was going on between them, or there _would_ be something going on between them later. Some of the boys who'd had a crush on Kagome were jealous of Iruka. They wondered how the clown, or loser, could have possibly gained the attention of someone like her. Girls who had crushes on Kakashi approved of Iruka and Kagome dating, because it kept Kagome away from Kakashi. And the girls who liked Iruka, who were more subtle, were just sad.

When they were outside, Kagome turned around looking for a passerby, nobody was present, "Iruka, I'm not ready!"

"What?" Iruka raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean you're not ready? You've been training every day."

"I know, but I bet he's been training every day too," She challenged, starting to walk around him.

"You're making me dizzy, Kagome!" Iruka scolded, grabbing her arm, "Stand still!"

Kagome blinked, but still listened to him.

"You're going to fight him, okay?" Iruka ordered. "And try your best, because that's how we do things."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome put her hair up into a high ponytail.

In response to her gesture, Iruka took his battle stance and pulled out two shuriken. "Three."

"Two," Kagome's eyebrows scrunched tightly.

"One," They both shouted, disappearing from each other.

Kagome was the first to strike, appearing above him with her leg positioned perpendicular to her waist.

Sensing the shift in wind, he looked up, but not in time to see her as she thrust her foot down into his chest.

Landing on the balls of her feet gracefully, Kagome watched Iruka roll from the impact of her assault.

Iruka quickly rose to his feet and he had to cough up spew.

"Woops, sorry, didn't mean to kick so hard." Kagome laughed nervously, "You okay?"

Iruka nodded and threw the shuriken, as expected, Kagome dodged, but unbeknownst to her, he'd noticed her unchanging battle moves.

Just as Kagome dodged, predictably to her left, Iruka plunged himself at an angle, where they would collide in those split three seconds.

Kagome yelped as Iruka's elbow crashed into her ribcage. There was great pain. A bruise would form, no doubt. Regardless, she forced herself to stand.

As soon as she was on two feet, Iruka attempted to trip her by kicking at her heels. Unfortunately for Iruka, Kagome still had the strength to jump and knee his chin. Then she kicked at his foot making him spin.

"Oi, you two," Sensei Kenshi called, "It's time."

Kagome nodded and secretly tried healing at the pain in her ribs. Healing wasn't something that she had perfected yet—in both miko form and shinobi form—but she was pretty close in miko form, at least the pain subsided.

"Iruka," Kagome started, as they walked towards the obstacle course that Sensei Uran and Mizuki should also be headed toward. "How did you do that?"

"Guess your moves?" Iruka playfully smirked.

Kagome nodded and looked away, "Am I that… readable?"

"Well, I've been training with you for a while now, so I'm used to your style," Iruka sighed scratching his head, "You haven't changed your moves really, so yeah, you are readable, to me."

"I see," Kagome smiled, 'That can be changed.'

"But Mizuki has never trained with you, so you'll do fine!"

Boom new scene!

Kakashi was still training in Kagome's backyard, back to pounding on the dummy after tree-climbing and molding chakra. He abruptly stopped when he felt the familiar presence of superiority behind him.

"Kakashi," the deep voice announced his presence.

"Lord Hokage," Kakashi turned towards said man and bowed.

"How has Miss Higurashi been?" He asked nonchalantly.

"She doesn't show any intention of harming the village, sir" Kakashi answered professionally.

Nodding his head in acknowledgment, he took a long relaxing drag from his pipe and then exhaling, "And her training?"

"She's quickly accelerating. She should be able to catch up with and surpass her peers in a week if she continues to progress as she has been." He was proud to brag about Kagome, the first student he'd taken under his wing.

"Very good," the Hokage sighed, inhaling his pipe again and studying Kakashi.

Kakashi lead him into the house and offered him a beverage. Thinking over the options, the Hokage asked for coffee.

After a while, he decided to make conversation again. "Kagome being here is a good thing."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Oh? Why do you say that?"

"Because there's something about her, I've noticed, that brings out some good in the people she acquaints with," The Hokage answered staring at the confused Kakashi knowingly.

Not knowing what he was getting at, Kakashi just simply replied, "Hm."

The Hokage just chuckled lightly.

"What's so funny?" Kakashi asked, giving the Hokage his coffee.

Taking a sip, he gave Kakashi a look of approval. "You know how to make your coffee. You're one of those people, you know?"

"That knows how to make coffee?" Kakashi asked, clearly puzzled.

The Hokage smiled and shook his head, "That Kagome is changing you—or healing you, if you will."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked quickly.

"You haven't even noticed?" The Hokage was still smiling, and that kind of irked Kakashi. "Do you even remember how you were before she came along?"

Kakashi just blinked, trying to remember. In all honesty, he couldn't remember. It was as if he was a robot just living out his days, following orders and somehow his memory chip was removed.

"Stoic, antisocial, depressed, lonely," The Hokage sighed, pausing to sip his hot coffee again, "You beat yourself up over your father's death, trying to follow all of the rules. Then Obito, he helped you learn true heroism and you learned to accept your father. After him, you weren't as fast to put others down and you learned to somewhat consider feelings."

"So Obito was the one who changed me," Kakashi stated, the distaste of bringing up his father and Obito was clear in his voice.

"Not exactly," He answered, "He was a big part of healing you, the bridge and the band aid but when Kagome came along… She brought smiles and sarcasm to life in you. She brought you friendship. She healed you. And as I've noticed, you are comfortable with her. You trained with her, when I haven't seen you train with anyone except your sensei and maybe some petty fights with Gai and Obito. You welcome me into her house and offer me what is hers as if it is your own. What you two have is a true bond of friendship."

Kakashi knew under his mask he was blushing of embarrassment, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because," he looked into his empty cup of coffee, "I know how you are. After this mission you'd shut her out of your life and continue on with more missions, and I don't want the friendship between the two of you to go to waste. Without Kagome, I fear that you would slip back to your old ways. And I must say, seeing you these days; happy, has made me happy."

"I see…" Kakashi frowned, 'weird conversation.' He wasn't happy with the casualty of the talk either. The way he spoke, Kakashi would think he was his father or something, trying to have one of the father-son talks about relationships. "Would you like more coffee?"

"Oh no, I have to get back to work. Lots of paperwork waiting for me," He sighed adjusting his hat. "But thank you, Kakashi."

Boom new scene!

Kagome groaned as soon as she saw the obstacle course. It went on for _miles_ and her muscles were already crying from the extra training hours with Kakashi.

"Doesn't it look fun," Iruka asked in wonder, a small smile gracing his lips.

Kagome's lips flattened out from a look of disdain to a look of annoyance, "You say that, Iruka, because you're not the one who has to race and fight in it."

"It's not that bad, Kags," Iruka coaxed, "Just think of it as a child's dream come true—A big playground."

Kagome merely blinked, "Did you just call me Kags?"

"Hai, you know… a nickname. Your name has too many syllables to be a good name." Iruka sighed, putting an arm on Kagome's shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" Kagome sighed in exasperation, "We have the same amount of syllables in our names."

"But my name sounds really good," Iruka laughed playfully.

"Sure it does." Kagome said rolling her eyes, "So a big playground, huh?"

She looked over the obstacle, trying to imagine it as one of the playgrounds from back home. The WacDonalds play place wasn't nearly as big as this obstacle—neither was the Chuck. E. Cheese one, but after looking through Iruka's perspective, she could see some similarities. It was getting easier and easier to picture this as a play place rather than a military boot camp or a policeman obstacle course.

"Is it okay if I go and check on Mizuki?" Iruka asked, looking at her with innocent puppy eyes.

Kagome almost wanted to scoff. Why was he even asking? It wasn't like she owned him or anything. It wasn't like she was going to, or _could_ say no. "Hai, go ahead."

"Arigato, and good luck," Iruka smiled before he waved.

Then Kagome noticed something, "Hey! His name is three syllables, why doesn't he have a nickname, huh!?"

"Because he's not as cute as you," Iruka winked and turned away just in time to miss the blush that crept onto Kagome's face.

'What the… hell?' Kagome thought, 'Was he joking?'

Trying her hardest to forget about his comment, she studied the obstacle more, hoping to get more of a "home field advantage" thing going on. Unless… Unless Iruka would tell Mizuki everything he told her. Then they would just be equals again. Either way, she needed to focus on every possible course.

"Hello there, Kagome," A deep voice said from behind her. "Getting ready for your challenge?"

Kagome smiled, knowing the voice, "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"How is Iruka doing?" He inquired, giving Kagome a knowing glance.

"He's fine," She answered, suddenly looking sheepish, "We were just sparring and he beat me."

"Since you've become friends with him, I've been hearing less and less about his pranks; and more about him becoming a serious shinobi." He informed, smiling, "Thank you for helping my Shinobi."

"It's just Iruka," Kagome said modestly, "And it's no big deal, he's a good guy and he's a good friend."

The Hokage smiled, "Not just Iruka, Kagome, but also Kakashi."

"What about Kakashi?" Kagome asked.

"You've been helping him, too," The Hokage answered. "Though it may not seem like it, he's been happy. I haven't seen him this happy since before his father passed away."

Kagome smiled lightly, "Arigato, Hokage-sama… Ano… I don't know how I'm _helping_ them... But I'll keep doing whatever it is that I'm doing."

The Hokage nodded, and if he was going to say anything else, he couldn't because Sensei Kenshi arrived. After bowing to his superior, he asked Kagome if she was ready.

Kagome nodded, and then glanced behind her sensei to see Mizuki staring at her smugly.

'The little punk,' Kagome thought, hiding the irritation from her face.

Boom new scene!

"Remember," Iruka said in a teasing voice, "Only academy Jutsu and weapons are allowed and you each get to use one specialty weapon."

"Are you ready!?" Sensei Uran shouted, in a Tarzan-like booming voice.

"Get set!" Sensei Kenshi yelled.

"GO!" They both screamed.

Both Kagome and Mizuki took off in a mad dash. Mizuki was the first to make a move for his weapon. His weapon of choice was a short sword with a long heavy metal chain hanging from the end of the hilt. He lassoed the chain over his head before thrusting it in her direction. Kagome back flipped just over the moving chain and grabbed at it and tossing it, along with its user, to the ground on her other side.

Ignoring the harsh pinching pain from her hand, she continued running, climbing over the rope and sneakily dropping some exploding tags. Well, the exploding tags that the academy offered for training was a lot smaller, so no limbs would be exploding in this battle. It would be more like a pressure with the strength of a good punch—if you stepped directly on the tag.

Smirking as she heard two explosions and a startled yelp, she started climbing the 30 foot ladder. Once she was at the top, her next obstacle was to swing across the field by swinging using vines. She grabbed tightly around a vine, and let go to swing to the other side. She was half-way in her flight when her vine suddenly snapped and she was free falling. She shrieked in absolute terror, until she clung to the bottom of another hanging vine. Her legs swung rapidly underneath her, causing her vine to twist. She saw a kunai under her and a smirking Mizuki starting to climb the ladder himself. He threw the kunai making the vine snap, the twerp.

Kagome sent him a glare, but he wasn't paying attention. She tried to picture being on the monkey bars, only 25 feet higher. She swung her legs and managed to grab another vine, then another, and again. She was at the final vine, and sighed, she'd have to climb to the top. She cursed when Mizuki easily soared across above her head. He was ahead of her now.

"Not if I can help it," Kagome said aloud, taking out her weapon of choice—a bladed whip—and threw it just over his foot and pulled, tripping him. While he was freefalling, she continued climbing and pulled out a kunai as she entered a tunnel.

Kagome scattered a couple of exploding tags behind her, and when she was out of the tunnel she left another little trap. It felt good to finally get back at him.

Mizuki finally made his way to the tunnel and his eyes squinted. He picked up four rock pebbles and threw them inside, two exploding tags went off. "Stupid girl, as if I'd fall for that lame trick again."

With that, he ran through the tunnel without any exploding tag troubles. But just as he reached the exit, he tripped over… dental floss? Just as he looked back up, a grapefruit sized rock flew from the trees and hit him square in the jaw. "That's it!"

He took out all four of his shuriken, and ran faster until Kagome was in sight and he threw them all at her. Sensing the weapons, she quickly moved and deflected all of them with her kunai, but Mizuki was fast with his blade for close combat. He lurched forward, strong and reckless, like Inuyasha fighting against Sesshomaru.

She pushed back with her own kunai, the weight of his sword made her arm tremble slightly before she used more force. With his free hand, at an inhuman raged speed he punched her in the gut. Kagome was only able to tighten her stomach to brace the impact. She jumped back, while holding her stomach; luckily the pain wasn't so bad. He didn't give her much time to rest, he ran at her and round-house kicked mid-air. Blocking his foot with her right hand, she used his own momentum to throw him against a tree.

Mizuki's eyes shut in pain as his back in the tree, 'Damn that girl!' He opened his eyes to see her still standing there, smirking at him. "Y-You think you're superior to me!?" His hand tightened around his sword before he lurched forward to attack.

She dropped to the ground and swiftly kicked his feet to trip him. When he fell, she made a dash, but he used the chain of his sword to trip her.

Just as he turned to leave, she kicked at his feet, but this time, he only tripped, he didn't fall. She cursed, kicking herself up and chasing after him.

Just as Mizuki was about to finish the final obstacle, Kagome tackled him to the ground and scrambled from on top of him to beat him.

Mizuki growled in annoyance, "Enough of this 'going easy' crap, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In no time, his two clones caught a hold of Kagome, but she disappeared in a puff of smoke and his clones were suddenly holding onto a log.

"Impossible!" Mizuki yelled. His eyes bulged as he turned his head to see Kagome staring smugly at him from the finish line.

"Never close your eyes in battle, you never know what you're going to miss," Sensei Kenshi told Mizuki and the rest of the class.

Realization hit Mizuki then, "When she threw me against the tree… I closed my eyes from the pain and she made a clone while she herself took off for the finish line." He fought back a growl. He was furious, at both her and himself.

Sensei Uran and Kenshi stood on either side of Kagome, "And the winner is Kagome Higurashi!"

Mizuki put on a fake smile and made his way to Kagome. "Congratulations, you beat me fair and square."

Kagome flinched, his smile looked friendly, heck, even his form seemed friendly, but looking in his eyes, she could see the malice.

She'd embarrassed him in front of all of his friends, all of his classmates. He was a male, and she was a female. Of course he'd be humiliated. A male losing to a female was the ultimate humiliation, and she'd given that to him. But she didn't feel sorry for him, because he was a jerk.

She also didn't like people hating her. And she didn't like hating people. But hey, you can't win them all, right?

He stuck out a hand for a congratulatory handshake; one she hesitated in giving.

"Kagome, Mizuki," Iruka called, "You guys were awesome!"

Kagome happily ripped her gaze away from Mizuki and grinned at Iruka, "Psh, I _know_ we were awesome!"

Kagome hugged Iruka and Mizuki simply nodded at him.

"That was quite the challenge, you two." The Hokage said, "Especially you, Kagome. You'll make quite the strategist."

Kagome smiled and averted her gaze, only to see the intensified heated gaze of Mizuki's glare. She tried saying 'we', but what could she do if the Hokage specifically congratulated her? If she _had _brought up the 'we' to the Hokage, then that would have hurt his pride, so there was simply no winning.

"Good job, Kagome," Kakashi said, shocking her. "I would have preferred seeing some more Jutsus though."

"Kakashi, you came!" Kagome exclaimed, running up to him and hugging him.

Students froze. The females were jealous and angry. The males gasped, thinking he would hurt her or something.

Iruka's eyes slightly widened as he stared at the two in a frozen state of… jealousy?

'But…' Iruka contemplated, 'Why would I be jealous? I don't like Kagome, do I? I _**know**_ I'm not gay. But why would I like Kagome? She's just a friend…'

Kakashi didn't exactly hug her back, but he surprisingly showed her as much affection as he was comfortable with. And that was just letting her hug him for a while, then patting her back when he felt it was enough. And that was enough to shock the Hokage and the sensei who knew of Kakashi and his antisocial ways.

The Hokage turned away and lifted his pipe to his lips as he looked between Iruka and Kakashi and Kagome. 'Oh no, looks like a little triangle is forming—just what this village needs.'


End file.
